BUSINESS, ENTERPRISE AND REGULATORY REFORM

Advantage West Midlands: Expenditure

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much Advantage West Midlands has disbursed in  (a) revenue and  (b) capital allocations in each financial year since 1998-99.

Patrick McFadden: The revenue and capital expenditure of Advantage West Midlands since 1998-99 has been as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Revenue  Capital 
			 1998-99(1) 0.4 
			 1999-2000 57 47 
			 2000-01 62 51 
			 2001-02 78 62 
			 2002-03 100 104 
			 2003-04 117 123 
			 2004-05 115 104 
			 2005-06 146 142 
			 2006-07 152 130 
			 2007-08 141 150 
			 2008-09(2) 133 162 
			 (1) No split available, mainly administrative costs. (2) Latest estimate.

Community Investment Fund

Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what Community Investment Fund projects each regional development agency carried out in each year since 2000.

Patrick McFadden: Tables showing the Community Investment Fund projects carried out by the RDAs since 2000 will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Departmental Databases

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform 
	(1)  what categories of personal information about members of the public are contained on each relevant database managed by his Department and its agencies; on what date each category of information began to be collected; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what databases managed by his Department and its agencies hold personal information on members of the public; on what date each such database became operational; and if he will make a statement.

Patrick McFadden: The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform does not hold any protected personal information about members of the public in any of its databases.
	I have asked the Chief Executives of Companies House and the Insolvency Service to respond to the hon. Member directly.
	 Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 15 May 2009:
	The Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has asked me to reply to you directly on behalf of The Insolvency Service on what categories of his personal information about members of the public are contained on each relevant database managed by his Department and its agencies; on what date each category of information began to be collected; and if he will make a statement.
	The requested details for the databases managed by the Insolvency Service Agency are contained in the following table:
	
		
			  Database  Categories of Personal Information held  Date the data began to be collected 
			 LOIS—(Official Receiver's Case Management System) Name, address, occupation, date and place of birth, national insurance number, for individual insolvents April 1993 for all categories of data 
			  Name, address, occupation, date and place of birth, national insurance number, for directors of insolvent companies  
			  Name and address details for creditors  
			
			 LOLA—(Financial administration system for Official Receiver's cases) Full name for individual insolvents April 1996 for all categories of data 
			  Name, address and (in some cases) bank account details for creditors  
			
			 BANCS (Financial administration system for Insolvency Practitioner cases) Full name for individual insolvents October 1994 for all categories of data 
			  Name, address and (in some cases) bank account details for creditors  
			
			 Central Index—(Consolidated summary database for Official Receiver and Insolvency Practitioner cases) Name, address, occupation, date and place of birth, national insurance number for individual insolvents April 1994 for all categories of data 
			  Name, address, occupation, date and place of birth, national insurance number, for directors of insolvent companies  
			  Name, address and contact details for Insolvency Practitioners  
			
			 DRO—(Debt Relief Order database) Name, address, occupation, date and place of birth, national insurance number for individual insolvents. April 1994 for all categories of data 
			  Name, address, occupation, date and place of birth, national insurance number, for directors of insolvent companies  
			  Name, address and contact details for Insolvency Practitioners  
			
			 I-Solv—(Database of applicants for online bankruptcy) Name, address, occupation, date and place of birth, national insurance number, for individual insolvents April 2005 for all categories of data 
			  Name, address and claim details for creditors  
			  Name, address and details of amounts owing for debtors  
			
			 CHIRPS—(Redundancy Payments Service case management system) Name, address, occupation, date and place of birth, national insurance number, bank account details for applicants for statutory redundancy payments November 1997 for all categories of data 
			
			 EMS—(Investigations and enforcement case management system) Name, address, and date of birth for individuals who are the subject of investigation or enforcement activities April 2005 for all categories of data 
			
			 IBIS—(Case management system of Companies Investigation Branch) Name, address, and contact details of complainants January 2002 for all categories of data 
			  Name, address, date and place of birth of disqualified directors  
			
			 e-IRR Online, searchable database of current individual insolvency orders) Name, address, occupation, date of birth for individuals subject to insolvency orders April 2004 
			  Name, address, occupation, date of birth, date and duration of restriction, for individuals subject to a Bankruptcy Restrictions Order June 2004 
			
			 Disqualified Directors Database Name, address, date of birth, date and duration of order, for directors subject to a disqualification order September 2005 
			
			 Finance Section Database Name, address and bank account details for individual payees in relation to redundancy payment claims April 2006 
			  Name, address and bank details of job applicants (successful and unsuccessful) who were paid expenses for job interviews and tests April 2004 
		
	
	 Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 15 May 2009:
	The Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has asked me to reply to you directly on behalf of The Insolvency Service on what databases managed by his Department and its agencies hold personal information on individual members of the public; on what date each such database became operational; and if he will make a statement.
	The requested details for the databases managed by the Insolvency Service Agency are contained in the following table:
	
		
			  Database  Date the database became operational 
			 LOIS—(Official Receiver's Case Management System) April 1993 
			 LOLA—(Financial administration system for Official Receiver's cases) April 1996 
			 BANCS—(Financial administration system for Insolvency Practitioner cases) October 1994 
			 Central Index—(Consolidated summary database for Official Receiver and Insolvency Practitioner cases) April 1994 
			 DRO—(Debt Relief Order database) April 2009 
			 I-Solv—(Database of online applicants for bankruptcy) April 2005 
			 CHIRPS—(Redundancy Payments Service case management system) November 1997 
			 EMS—(Investigations and enforcement case management system) April 2005 
			 IBIS—(Case management system of Companies Investigation Branch) January 2002 
			 e-IRR (Online, searchable database of current individual insolvency orders) April 2004 
			 Database of Disqualified Directors September 2005 
			 Finance Section Database April 2004 
		
	
	 Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 15 May 2009:
	I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 6 May 2009, UIN 274174, to the Minister of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
	Companies House is required by legislation to hold the following personal information about members of the public:
	Names, addresses and dates of birth of company directors.
	Names and addresses of company secretaries.
	Names and addresses of company shareholders.
	This information has been collected under various Companies Acts since 1844 but has only been held on an electronic database since 1986.
	 Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 15 May 2009:
	I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 6 May 2009, UIN 274175, to the Minister of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
	The current register of companies database (known as CHIPS) became operational on 25 February 2008, superseding the previous version of the database (known as STEM), which had been operational since 1986. There is also an image database, holding electronic images of documents filed, which became operational in 1995. All these databases hold personal information, most of which is publicly available.

Departmental Written Questions

Andrew Turner: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many questions tabled to his Department for ordinary written answer in Session 2007-08 were  (a) answered (i) in up to three days, (ii) in between four days and two weeks, (iii) in between two weeks and one month, (iv) in between one month and two months and (v) two months or more after tabling and (b) were not answered.

Patrick McFadden: The information requested is not available in a format to reply without incurring disproportionate cost. This applies equally to researching the House "Parliamentary Information Management System".
	However, in the three-month period from December 2008 to February 2009, the Department received a total of 566 ordinary written parliamentary questions of which 225 were answered within five sitting days. Of the 566, a total of 20 remain to be answered.

Departmental Written Questions

Andrew Turner: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many questions tabled to his Department for named day written answer in Session 2007-08  (a) received a substantive answer (i) on the day named and (ii) (A) in up to three days, (B) in between four days and two weeks, (C) in between two weeks and one month, (D) in between one and two months and (E) more than two months after the day named and (b) were not answered.

Patrick McFadden: The information requested is not available in a format to reply without incurring disproportionate cost. This applies equally to researching the House "Parliamentary Information Management System".
	However, in the three-month period from December 2008 to February 2009, the Department received a total of 188 named day parliamentary questions (including first order questions which could not be answered in the Chamber). Of the 188, a total of 52 were answered on the date specified. A total of five remain to be answered.

Motor Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries

David Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what his policy is on its payment of wage contributions to workers in the automotive industry on short-time working who are undertaking retraining in their own time.

Ian Pearson: The Government fully appreciate the difficulties that the automotive industry is experiencing during the current economic downturn.
	While we are supporting a range of automotive support initiatives, we do not believe that introducing a general wage subsidy for all employers is a feasible, cost effective and sustainable option for the UK. Past experience in the UK when running a wage subsidy programme in the 1970s was that wage subsidies acted to create distortions and perverse incentives for other sectors and companies to bargain for subsidies.
	We believe that the future success of British industry will be based on a highly skilled workforce, and where production is being reduced we are helping business train their workforces to ensure they emerge from the economic downturn in the best possible shape to compete in the future.
	Automotive companies can access funding for training from Government and the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies. Following demand from the automotive industry for this support, funding under the "Train To Gain" scheme for the sector has been increased substantially up to £100 million from the original budget of £65 million.

Tourism: Finance

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps his Department takes to monitor the effectiveness of spending by regional development agencies on the development of the tourism industry.

Patrick McFadden: BERR and other Government Departments are involved in development of each RDA's Regional Economic Strategy (RES) and in approving each region's Corporate Plan. The plans are reviewed to ensure that the RDAs deliver against ministerial priorities and priorities identified in the RES.
	The RDAs took on strategic responsibility for tourism development in the regions in 2003, and have developed tourism strategies and delivery structures in line with their RES. DCMS works with the RDAs in advancing and assessing progress on key strategic objectives through:
	the 2012 Ministerial Advisory Group, which guides the delivery of the national tourism strategy ("Winning: A tourism strategy for 2012 and beyond");
	the Ministerial Monitoring and Implementation Group, which guides the delivery of the national skills strategy;
	the Welcome to Britain Group, which is working to improve the overall visitor welcome and experience;
	Partners for England, which focuses on improved resource and policy co-ordination at national, regional and local levels;
	the RDA Tourism Leads group, which provides a forum for cross-regional co-operation, collaboration and leadership.

CHILDREN, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES

Class Sizes

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the average  (a) infant,  (b) primary and  (c) secondary class sizes in the 20 local authority areas of (i) highest and (ii) lowest deprivation in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The requested information is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Average class sizes( 1 ) as at January 2008 in England, by local authority 
			   Key  s tage( 1,2)  Maintained p rimary( 3)  State-funded  s econdary( 3,4) 
			 England 25.7 26.2 20.9 
			 20 Local authority areas with the highest level of deprivation(5)
			 Liverpool 24.3 24.6 19.2 
			 Hackney 26.5 25.8 20.9 
			 Tower Hamlets 27.7 26.3 21.1 
			 Manchester 26.1 26.6 21.3 
			 Knowsley 24.8 25.7 20.5 
			 Newham 27.1 26.8 23.1 
			 Islington 25.1 25.5 22.1 
			 Middlesbrough 22.5 23.5 19.3 
			 Birmingham 27.1 26.8 20.5 
			 Kingston Upon Hull, City of 25.2 25.7 22.0 
			 Blackpool 27.1 27.8 22.0 
			 Nottingham 24.7 25.7 19.4 
			 Sandwell 26.5 26.7 20.6 
			 Salford 25.0 26.0 20.9 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 26.0 26.5 21.4 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 26.4 27.1 21.4 
			 Haringey 27.8 27.5 19.4 
			 Lambeth 27.3 25.9 20.4 
			 Leicester 24.8 24.9 22.5 
			 Barking and Dagenham 27.0 26.9 19.9 
			 20 Local Authority Areas with the lowest level of deprivation(5)
			 West Sussex 26.1 26.6 21.2 
			 Kingston upon Thames 28.2 27.1 20.4 
			 City of London 30.0 24.8 n/a 
			 Bedfordshire 24.3 24.5 21.4 
			 Hertfordshire 26.6 26.7 20.0 
			 Cambridgeshire 26.3 27.0 22.0 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 26.0 26.0 20.2 
			 Oxfordshire 24.6 25.6 20.5 
			 Leicestershire 25.1 25.9 22.1 
			 Hampshire 26.3 27.0 22.1 
			 Wiltshire 24.9 25.7 20.7 
			 South Gloucestershire 25.4 26.5 20.1 
			 Richmond upon Thames 28.0 26.5 23.5 
			 Buckinghamshire 25.1 25.6 20.6 
			 Bracknell Forest 26.8 26.8 21.2 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 24.0 25.5 20.0 
			 West Berkshire 25.0 25.2 19.1 
			 Surrey 26.8 27.0 21.7 
			 Rutland 25.3 25.2 23.8 
			 Wokingham 24.8 26.3 19.7 
			 n/a=. Not Applicable (1) Classes taught by 1 teacher. (2) Includes reception classes. (3) Includes middle schools as deemed. (4) Includes Academies and City Technology Colleges. (5) Ranked according to the indices of multiple deprivation.  Source:  School Census

Education

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding his Department plans to allocate to each local authority for discharging responsibilities which were formerly those of the Learning and Skills Council in each of the next five years.

Jim Knight: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 5 May 2009,  Official Report, columns 150-54W. This set out the number of posts we expect to transfer to each local authority from the Learning and Skills Council, subject to the passage of the Apprenticeships, Learning and Skills Bill. We are currently working with the LSC to determine how much funding will transfer to local authorities with each post from April 2010.

Education: Assessments

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the cost to his Department of examination fees for each type of examination in maintained schools was in each of the last 10 years.

Jim Knight: The Department began collecting information in sufficient detail to answer this question in 2002-03. No comparable data are available for previous years. The information in the table covers the combined costs of all relevant examination entry fees, including GCSEs, A/AS-levels and GNVQs, and any accreditation costs related to pupils. We do not collect separate data on each type of exam.
	
		
			  Financial year  Examination fees (E21)( 1)  (£)( 2) 
			 2002-03 155,611,000 
			 2003-04 173,843,000 
			 2004-05 198,227,000 
			 2005-06 220,056,000 
			 2006-07 240,861,000 
			 2007-08(3) 265,305,000 
			 (1) Includes expenditure by local authority maintained schools in England on the costs of examination entry fees, and costs of accreditation related to pupils (the payments centres make to awarding bodies to register with them to take their qualification). This includes GCSEs, A/AS-levels and GNVQs and covers administrative costs e.g. external marking; it excludes the cost of exam resources, such as the test papers themselves. (2) Figures are rounded to the nearest £000. (3) 2007-08 data remain provisional and subject to change.  Source: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/localauthorities/section52/subPage.cfm?action=section52.default&ID=58 (Budget Data Archive)

Education: Finance

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills on the merits of transferring the multi-professional education and training budget from that Department to the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

David Lammy: I have been asked to reply.
	The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is the responsibility of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. As such it would be for this Department to discuss the transfer of this budget from the Department of Health. However, there have been no discussions on this subject in recent years.

Foster Care

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many foster parents have fostered  (a) trafficked children,  (b) unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and  (c) children from other EU countries in each of the last three years.

Beverley Hughes: Information about the numbers of foster carers who have fostered children in the three categories listed is not collected centrally.

GCE A-Level

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils eligible for free school meals sat  (a) mathematics and  (b) further mathematics A-level in each of the last five years.

Jim Knight: The answer is provided in the following table:
	
		
			  Pupils eligible for free school meals who sat mathematics and further mathematics at A-level for the period 2004-08 
			   Number  Percentage 
			   Maths  F-Maths  Maths  F-Maths 
			 2004 554 31 13.8 0.8 
			 2005 567 31 13.2 0.7 
			 2006 591 42 14.3 1.0 
			 2007 686 56 16.4 1.3 
			 2008 705 53 17.1 1.3 
			  Notes: 1. The figures are based on pupils aged 16 to 18 years. 2. Percentages are based on the cohort of pupils eligible for free school meals who sat at least one GCE A-level.  Source: National Pupil Database.

GCE A-Level

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of pupils in maintained schools who gained five or more GCSEs at grade A or A* in 2006 who gained three or more A-levels at Grade A in 2008.

Jim Knight: The most readily available analysis is given in the following table:
	
		
			   Number 
			  Number of pupils who achieved 3 A grades at A-level in 2008 and  
			 achieved 5 or more A* or A GCSE grades 13,660 
			 did not achieve 5 or more A* or A GCSE grades 857 
			   
			 Prior attainment not available 147 
			 Total 14,664 
			  Notes: 1. Figures relate to 16 to 18-year-olds (age at start of academic year, i.e. 31 August 2007) in maintained schools (including academies and CTCs) in England. Figures relate to achievements in GCE/VCE/Applied A-level/Double Awards and full and vocational GCSEs only.  2. Not all of these pupils will have taken their GCSE examinations in 2006 or in maintained schools. Pupils who took their GCSE examinations in 2006 and achieved at least three As in their A-levels in a year other than 2008 are not included.  Source:  National Pupil Database

GCSE: Young Offender Institutions

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 29 April 2009,  Official Report, column 1387W, on the General Certificate of Secondary Education: young offender institutions, how many young people housed in young offender institutions achieved  (a) one A* to G grade,  (b) five A* to G grades,  (c) five A* to C grades and  (d) five A* to C grades, including English and mathematics at GCSE in each year for which the Learning and Skills Council holds figures.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 7 May 2009
	The individualised learning record (ILR) data LSC collected for 2006/07 do not allow us to answer the specific questions on the range of grades achieved. However these data show that during the 2006/07 academic year there were a total of 68 GCSE achievements by 15 to 17-year-olds in Prison Service YOIs, of which:
	19 people achieved one GCSE;
	Five people achieved two GCSEs;
	13 people achieved three GCSEs;
	The LSC's young persons' learning 1 (YOL1) data show that during the 2007/08 academic year, for young people under the age of 18, there were 106 GCSE achievements between grades A and C, and 159 GCSE achievements below grade C. However the data set allowing us to break this down into the number of people achieving different numbers of GCSEs (i.e. ILR) is not yet available for the 2007/08 academic year.
	Also, note that the figures quoted will not include all of the GCSEs achieved by young people in juvenile custody, as some young people in custody are still registered at schools and colleges and any GCSEs that they achieve while in custody will be reflected in achievement figures of schools and colleges, rather than the figures reported by the LSC in these statistics.
	Also, many young people stay in custody only for a very short time, and therefore it is not realistic for them to achieve long-term qualifications while they are in custody, especially as GCSEs can only be taken at certain points of the year.

Members: Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire dated 27 March 2009, transferred from the Home Office on 2 April 2009, reference: M7547/9, on a nationwide database of children.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: A response to the letter, from Baroness Delyth Morgan, was sent to the hon. Member on 5 May 2009.

National Curriculum Tests: Disadvantaged

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  how many pupils in receipt of free school meals achieved level  (a) 7 and  (b) 8 in Key Stage 3 examinations in (i) English, (ii) mathematics and (iii) science in (A) 1997, (B) 2002, (C) 2005 and (D) the latest year for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many and what percentage of pupils  (a) eligible and  (b) ineligible for free school meals achieved level 8 at Key Stage 3 in each of the last three years.

Jim Knight: The requested information is not available for 1997 as prior to 2002 individual pupil characteristic information was not collected. The introduction of the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) in January 2002, which collects such information, meant that from 2002, pupil characteristic data could be matched to attainment data, allowing analyses of different groups of pupils.
	The 2002 information is shown as follows:
	
		
			   Eligible pupils  Number of pupils achieving KS3 level 7  Number of pupils achieving KS3 level 8  Percentage of pupils achieving KS3 level 8 
			   English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science 
			 Non FSM 496,439 497,397 497,912 56,510 91,789 55,646 5,924 21,831 4,782 1 4 1 
			 FSM 96,741 97,299 97,488 2,663 5,120 2,126 177 542 69 0 1 0 
			 All pupil(1) 598,309 600,141 600,849 59,493 97,438 58,109 6,131 22,563 4,893 1 4 1 
			 (1 )Includes pupils for whom FSM information was not sought or for which information was refused 
		
	
	The 2005 information is shown as follows:
	
		
			   Eligible pupils  Number of pupils achieving KS3 level 7  Number of pupils achieving KS3 level 8  Percentage of pupils achieving KS3 level 8 
			   English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science 
			 Non FSM 512,353 512,162 512,626 53,377 113,581 67,435 — 30,342 — — 6 — 
			 FSM 94,804 94,689 94,875 2,048 7,240 2,313 — 901 — — 1 — 
			 All pupil(1) 611,274 610,947 611,629 55,630 121,325 69,986 — 31,365 — — 5 — 
			 (1) Includes pupils for whom FSM information was not sought or for which information was refused. 
		
	
	The 2006 information is shown as follows:
	
		
			   Eligible pupils  Number of pupils achieving KS3 level 7  Number of pupils achieving KS3 level 8  Percentage of pupils achieving KS3 level 8 
			   English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science 
			 Non FSM 512,623 513,092 513,371 56,270 125,629 84,998 — 45,137 — — 9 — 
			 FSM 90,671 90,700 90,855 2,364 9,233 3,362 — 1,543 — — 2 — 
			 All pupil(1) 607,174 607,707 608,156 58,903 135,469 88,756 — 46,894 — — 8 — 
			 (1) Includes pupils for whom FSM information was not sought or for which information was refused. 
		
	
	The 2007 information is shown as follows:
	
		
			   Eligible pupils  Number of pupils achieving KS3 level 7  Number of pupils achieving KS3 level 8  Percentage of pupils achieving KS3 level 8 
			   English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science 
			 Non FSM 495,289 495,655 496,155 44,577 114,235 84,570 — 44,471 — — 9 — 
			 FSM 86,713 86,708 86,846 1,749 8,234 3,519 — 1,652 — — 2 — 
			 All pupil(1) 582,002 582,363 583,001 46,326 122,469 88,089 — 46,123 — — 8 — 
			 (1) Includes pupils for whom FSM information was not sought or for which information was refused. 
		
	
	From 2003, level 8 can be achieved only in mathematics following the end of extension papers at KS3.
	National Curriculum Assessment and GCSE/GNVQ Attainment by Pupil Characteristics, in England 2002 (final) and 2003 (provisional) can be found in SFR04/2004, at:
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000448/index.shtml
	The National Curriculum Assessments by Pupil Characteristics, GCSE and Equivalent Attainment and Post-16 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics, in England 2005 can be found in SFR09/2006, at:
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000640/index.shtml
	The National Curriculum Assessments by Pupil Characteristics, GCSE and Equivalent Attainment and Post-16 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics, in England 2005/06 (Provisional) can be found in SFR46/2006, at:
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000693/index.shtml
	The National Curriculum Assessments by Pupil Characteristics, GCSE and Equivalent Attainment and Post-16 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics, in England 2006/07 can be found in SFR38/2007, at:
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000759/index.shtml

Physical Education: Facilities

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department spent on capital expenditure on physical educational facilities in schools in  (a) 2007-08 and  (b) 2008-09; and what recent estimate he has made of such capital expenditure in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2011-12.

Jim Knight: The Department relies on local authorities and schools to decide how much capital should be spent on physical educational facilities, and does not maintain central records of expenditure incurred or planned during the period 2007-08 to 2010-11. No financial commitment has been made by the Department beyond 31 March 2011.
	In February 2008, the Secretary of State announced a capital programme to improve facilities for PE and sport at the most needy sports colleges. £10 million was allocated to sports colleges in 2008-09 and £21.5 million in 2009-10.

Pupil Referral Units

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 22 April 2009,  Official Report, columns 577-79W, on pupil referral units, in which local authority area each of the pupil referral units is located.

Beverley Hughes: The local authority areas are shown against the pupil referral units (PRUs) and are listed as follows.
	
		
			  PRUs opened in 2008 by local authority 
			  Local authority name  PRU name 
			 Kent Ashford and Shepway Alternative Curriculum PRU 
			 Bradford Bradford District PRU 
			 Kent Canterbury and Swale Alternative Curriculum PRU 
			 Coventry Chace Extended Learning Centre 
			 Brent Church Lane Pupil Referral Unit 
			 Salford Clifton and Grosvenor Centre 
			 Kent Dartford and Gravesham 
			 Sunderland Ks1 Pupil Referral Unit 
			 Sunderland KS2/3 PRU 
			 Solihull Lanchester PRU 
			 Kent Maidstone and Malling Alternative Curriculum PRU 
			 Doncaster Maple Medical PRU 
			 Doncaster Nexus Centre 
			 Liverpool Primary Centre 
			 Wigan Pupil Support Centre 
			 Sunderland School Returners/Young Mums Provision 
			 Liverpool Secondary Centre 
			 Leicester Short Course Centre 
			 Southwark Southwark Inclusive Learning Service KS3, KS4 and Sils+ 
			 Doncaster Springboard Centre 
			 Rotherham St. Mary's Centre 
			 Kent Thanet and Dover Alternative Curriculum PRU 
			 Hampshire The Ashwood Centre 
			 Wigan The Beechwood Centre 
			 Rotherham The Bridge 
			 Sunderland The Cheadle Centre 
			 Doncaster The Gateway Centre 
			 Wigan The Lilford Centre 
			 Wigan The Phoenix Centre 
			 Rotherham The Rowan Centre 
			 Kent Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks Alternative Curriculum PRU 
			 Nottingham Unity Learning Centre 
		
	
	
		
			  PRUs closed in 2008 by local authority 
			  Local authority name  PRU name 
			 Nottingham Alternative Provision PRU 
			 Doncaster Beckett Road Centre 
			 Coventry Centre 4 
			 Lambeth Charles Edward Brooke Refugee Centre Co Charles Edward Brooke CofE School 
			 Cornwall Cornwall Hospital Education Service 
			 Rotherham Greasbrough Centre 
			 Stockton-on-Tees Greengates Primary Pupil Support Centre 
			 Doncaster Hexthorpe Centre 
			 Doncaster Hospital and Interim Tuition Service 
			 Somerset Link Education Centre (Orchard Lodge) 
			 Liverpool Mill Road Pupil Referral Unit, Ipors Centre 
			 Wigan Park Centre 
			 Southwark Southwark Inclusive Learning Service Plus (Sils+) 
			 Wigan Summit Centre 
			 Sunderland Sunderland Pupil Referral Unit 
			 Rotherham The Bridge 
			 Salford The Clifton Centre 
			 Southwark The Education Support Centre 
			 Wigan The Gerard Pupil Referral Unit 
			 Salford The Grosvenor Centre 
			 Doncaster The Long Sandall Centre 
			 Lincolnshire The Willows Centre Pupil Referral Unit 
			 Leeds Tinshill Learning Centre 
			 Doncaster Young Parents Centre 
			 Milton Keynes Young People Out of School Project 
			  Source: EduBase

Pupils

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on the likely effects on school roll projections of changes in levels of immigration.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department does not provide guidance to local authorities on the likely effects on school roll projections of changes in levels of immigration. This is for authorities to determine, based on their knowledge of local demographics.

Schools: Closures

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many  (a) primary and  (b) secondary schools he expects to close in each local authority area in each of the next three years; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: School place planning is the statutory responsibility of individual local authorities (LAs). This includes making sure there are sufficient school places, and also removing surplus places when required. To facilitate this LAs have the power to propose the closure of maintained schools.
	Where LAs propose to make any changes to local school provision, including closures, they must follow a statutory process, which is then decided under established local decision making arrangements. Ministers have no direct roll in the process.

Schools: Expenditure

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what individual programmes and corresponding allocations are aggregated as other miscellaneous programmes for the year 2010-11 in the Schools section of Table 8.3 of his Department's 2008 Annual Report.

Jim Knight: The Department's grants and programmes aggregated as within other miscellaneous programmes for 2010-11 are provided in the following table:
	
		
			  Departmental  report allocation 
			  Schools:  2010-11  (£ million) 
			 Music and Dance 37 
			 Redundancy Costs 12 
			 TDA 593 
			 NCSL 83 
			 Partnership for Schools 1 
			 Teachers TV 9 
			 National Strategies 473 
			 Total 1,209

Schools: Expenditure

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what grants and corresponding allocations are aggregated as other standards funds for the years 2007-08 and 2010-11 in the Schools section of Table 8.3 of his Department's 2008 Annual Report.

Jim Knight: The Department's grants and programmes aggregated as within other standards funds for (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2010-11 are provided in the following table:
	
		
			  Departmental report allocation 
			  £ million 
			  Other standards fund  2007-08  2010-11 
			 Schools Development Grant 1,898 2,133 
			 Local Area Agreement Grant 166 — 
			 Total 2,064 2,133

Schools: Expenditure

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what grants and corresponding allocations are aggregated within area based grants for the year 2010-11 in the Schools section of Table 8.3 of his Department's 2008 Annual Report.

Jim Knight: The Department's grants and programmes aggregated as within area based grants for 2010-11 are provided in the following table:
	
		
			  Departmental area based grants figures 
			  DCSF grants to local authorities  2010-11  (£ million) 
			 Connexions 467 
			 Extended Schools - Start Up 71 
			 School Development Grant (LA retained element) 168 
			 Children's Fund 132 
			 Positive Activities for Young People 95 
			 Care Matters 55 
			 Secondary National Strategy: Central Co-ordination 30 
			 Primary National Strategy: Central Co-ordination 30 
			 Teenage Pregnancy 28 
			 School Improvement Partners 24 
			 Extended Rights for Free Travel 29 
			 Children's Social Care Workforce 18 
			 School Intervention 15 
			 Flexible 14 to 19 Partnerships Funding 15 
			 Secondary Behaviour and Attendance: Central Co-ordination 14 
			 Education Health Partnerships 13 
			 Child Death Review Processes 8 
			 Youth Substance Misuse 7 
			 School Travel Advisers 7 
			 Choice Advisers 6 
			 Youth Taskforce 4 
			 General Duty on Sustainable Travel To School 4 
			 Designated Teacher Funding 3 
			 Child Trust Fund 1 
			 Total Area Based Grants 1,242 
		
	
	The total in this table contains figures that have been updated since the publication of the 2008 Departmental Report.

Schools: Sports

Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his Department's definition of community use in the Building Schools for the Future programme is in relation to sports facilities.

Jim Knight: There is no strict definition of "community use" in the Building Schools for the Future Programme. As set out in the Extended Schools prospectus, published in June 2005, the Government have encouraged all schools to offer a core set of extended services by 2010, including wider community access to sports facilities. However, it is up to individual governing bodies to decide the extent to which they do this, since they are responsible for controlling the occupation and use of school premises both during and out of school hours. Governing bodies are also best placed to define what the community is that each school serves.
	Secondary schools built or upgraded under the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme must conform to the Department's Building Bulletin (BB) 98, "Briefing Framework for Secondary School Projects". This recommends that each school should have, as a minimum, a "four-court" sports hall designed to Sport England's specifications that cover community use. BB 98 also includes recommendations for outdoor sports pitches and games courts.
	BSF investment is therefore ensuring that secondary schools will have sports facilities for use by the communities in which they are placed.

Schools: Standards

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of schools received a rating of inadequate in their Ofsted report for behaviour in each of the last five years.

Jim Knight: holding answer 11 May 2009
	 This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.
	 Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 8 May 2009:
	Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for reply.
	The 'inadequate' inspection outcome was introduced in September 2005 as part of a four-point scale: outstanding, good, satisfactory, inadequate. Table A shows the outcome of the behaviour judgement for maintained schools inspected in each academic year since September 2005.
	
		
			  Table A: Behaviour in maintained schools inspected each year since 2005/06 
			  Academic year  Number of school inspections which included a behaviour judgment  Number of school inspections where behaviour was judged inadequate  School inspections where behaviour was judged inadequate, as a percentage of all school inspections 
			 2005/06 6,128 46 1 
			 2006/07 (1)8,264 55 1 
			 2007/08 (2)7,864 40 1 
			 (1) Excludes 59 school inspections using a reduced set of judgments that did not include a judgment on behaviour. (2) Excludes 2 school inspections of sixth form schools where only post-16 judgments were made. One of these inspections was judged to have good behaviour at the post-16 level, and the other had no behaviour judgment. 
		
	
	A copy of this reply has been sent to Rt Hon Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.

Schools: Transport

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of children who  (a) cycle and  (b) walk to school.

Jim Knight: The requested information is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Maintained primary( 1) , state-funded secondary( 1,2)  and special schools( 3) : mode of travel as at January 2008, England 
			   Number of pupils who walk to school  Percentage of pupils who walk to school  Number of pupils who cycle to school  Percentage of pupils who cycle to school  Total number of pupils for whom mode of travel was supplied( 4) 
			 Number/percentage of pupils(5) 3,148,390 49.9 123,010 1.9 6,312,120 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed.  (2) Includes CTCs and academies.  (3) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes General Hospital schools.  (4) The collection of mode of travel to school data is only mandatory at pupil level for schools with an approved school travel plan. Data were received for 6,312,120 of the total number of 7,461,230 pupils.  (5) Solely registered pupils. Excludes boarders.   Source: School Census.

Teachers: Recruitment

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Teach Next programme; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: We have more teachers in the classroom than in 1997. We have a range of routes for people who want to change career into teaching and these can be accessed direct or via transition to teaching. Most take up either postgraduate certificates in education (PGCE) or the employment-based Graduate Teacher programme.
	The Becoming a Teacher evaluation (Hobson et al., 2006) found that 97 per cent. of survey respondents reported feeling 'very' or 'fairly' confident that their ITT programme had prepared them to be an effective teacher. However, a higher proportion of employment-based trainees, and a lower proportion of PGCE trainees, than those following other routes reported feeling 'very confident' that their ITT route had prepared them to be an effective teacher.

Teachers: Training

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of Graduate Teacher Programme places made available by the Training and Development Agency for Schools in 2008-09 were eligible for a salary grant.

Jim Knight: There were 4,335 salary and training grant places allocated by the Training and Development Agency for Schools and these represent 93 per cent. of all Graduate Teacher Programme places in academic year 2008/09.

Teachers: Training

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many trainees have failed initial teacher training in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: Information about trainees who did not gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) is only available for trainees in their final year of training. The tables show the number of final year ITT trainees for each academic year between 1998/99 and 2006/07 who did not gain QTS in their final year of training and of these the number who left their course before completion and the number where the outcome of QTS is unknown for:
	1. Postgraduate ITT trainees
	2. Undergraduate ITT trainees
	3. Employment Based Routes (EBR) trainees
	Information relating to the number of trainees through mainstream courses gaining QTS is only available from 1998/99 onwards. The same information for trainees on employment based routes was only collected from 2001/02 onwards. Figures relating to 2007/08 will be available in July 2009.
	
		
			  1. Postgraduate ITT trainees 
			 Number of postgraduate final year trainees who have not gained QTS 
			   Total number of mainstream trainees in their final year  Number of mainstream final year trainees gaining QTS  Known not to have completed course  Undefined outcome  Other outcome  Total 
			 1998/99 17,430 15,160 1,260 130 880 2,270 
			 1999/2000 17,170 14,850 1,250 140 940 2,320 
			 2000/01 18,680 16,150 1,310 250 970 2,530 
			 2001/02 19,480 16,940 1,090 0 1,450 2,540 
			 2002/03 21,590 19,180 1,020 * 1,400 2,410 
			 2003/04 24,590 21,460 1,430 0 1,700 3,130 
			 2004/05 25,200 21,780 1,390 20 2,010 3,420 
			 2005/06 25,100 21,600 1,290 10 2,210 3,500 
			 2006/07 24,660 21,080 1,210 * 2,370 3,580 
			 * = Less than 5.  Notes: 1. Includes trainees from Universities and other Higher Education Institutions, School Centred Initial Teacher Training and Open Universities but exclude Employment Based Routes (EBR). 2. Numbers are individually rounded to the nearest 10 and therefore may not sum. 3. 'Other outcome' includes final year trainees who are yet to complete their course, those with withheld QTS (including those where their skills test were not met, their standards were not met and where both their standards and skills test were not met) and those where the skills test has not been taken (including those whose standards were met and those whose standards were not met).  Source: TDA Performance Profiles 
		
	
	
		
			  2. Undergraduate ITT trainees 
			 Number of undergraduate final year trainees who have not gained QTS 
			   Total number of mainstream trainees in their final year  Number of mainstream final year trainees gaining QTS  Known not to have completed course  Undefined outcome  Other outcome  Total 
			 1998/99 9,770 8,910 50 340 470 860 
			 1999/2000 7,490 6,850 40 210 390 640 
			 2000/01 7,040 6,490 40 240 270 550 
			 2001/02 6,870 6,340 40 0 490 530 
			 2002/03 6,980 6,250 40 * 690 730 
			 2003/04 6,380 5,880 50 0 460 500 
			 2004/05 6,160 5,360 20 0 770 790 
			 2005/06 6,120 5,410 20 10 680 710 
			 2006/07 6,690 5,900 40 0 750 790 
			 * = Less than 5.  Notes: 1. Includes trainees from Universities and other Higher Education Institutions, School and Open Universities but exclude Employment Based Routes (EBR). 2. Numbers are individually rounded to the nearest 10 and therefore may not sum. 3. 'Other outcome' includes final year trainees who are yet to complete their course, those with withheld QTS (including those where their skills test were not met, their standards were not met and where both their standards and skills test were not met) and those where the skills test has not been taken (including those whose standards were met and those whose standards were not met).  Source: TDA Performance Profiles 
		
	
	
		
			  3. Employment Based R outes (EBR) trainees 
			 Number of EBR final year trainees who have not gained QTS 
			   Total number of mainstream trainees in their final year  Number of mainstream final year trainees gaining QTS  Known not to have completed course  Undefined outcome  Other outcome  Total 
			 2001/02 2,440 2,210 30 0 190 230 
			 2002/03 4,030 3,670 340 0 20 360 
			 2003/04 4,950 4,470 440 0 30 470 
			 2004/05 7,220 6,600 260 0 350 610 
			 2005/06 6,970 6,090 420 0 450 870 
			 2006/07 7,840 7,120 350 0 380 720 
			  Notes: 1. Includes trainees through Employment Based Routes (EBR) only. 2. Numbers are individually rounded to the nearest 10 and therefore may not sum. 3. 'Other outcome' includes final year trainees who are yet to complete their course, those with withheld QTS (including those where their skills test were not met, their standards were not met and where both their standards and skills test were not met) and those where the skills test has not been taken (including those whose standards were met and those whose standards were not met).  Source: TDA Performance Profiles

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

British Humanist Association

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what meetings Ministers in her Department have had with the British Humanist Association in the last 36 months.

Sadiq Khan: I met the British Humanist Association on 10 February 2009 to discuss a range of issues. My predecessor, the hon. Member for Gloucester (Mr. Dhanda), met the organisation on 12 November 2007.

Commission for Local Administration in England

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the cost to her Department of the Office of the local government ombudsman has been in each of the last five years.

John Healey: The amount of grant paid by this Department to the local government ombudsman from 2004-05 to 2008-09 is set out in the Local Government Finance Report and is as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2004-05 11,058,000 
			 2005-06 11,522,400 
			 2006-07 13,221,000 
			 2007-08 12,851,000 
			 2008-09 12,600,000 
		
	
	For 2009-10 we have made provision in the Main Estimates of £16,155,000 for grants to the local government ombudsman, including a provision for possible future redundancies and a provision to fund the additional remit the ombudsman will have for schools and health matters, if and when the relevant provisions in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill and Health Bill currently before Parliament are enacted and come into force.

Council Tax

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what was the  (a) percentage and  (b) cash rise in (i) average B and D council tax in England and (ii) average council tax per dwelling in England in (A) absolute and (B) real terms in each year since 1997-98.

John Healey: Information on the change in both percentage and cash terms in the average band D council tax in England and the average council tax per dwelling in England in both absolute and real terms in each year since 1997-98 is shown in the tables.
	
		
			   Absolute change  Real terms change( 1) 
			   £  Percentage  £  Percentage 
			  Band D, two adults for area 
			 1997-98(2) 42 6.5 36 4.0 
			 1998-99(2) 59 8.6 41 4.4 
			 1999-2000 51 6.8 51 5.1 
			 2000-01 49 6.1 32 3.1 
			 2001-02 54 6.4 48 4.5 
			 2002-03 75 8.2 75 6.7 
			 2003-04 126 12.9 112 9.5 
			 2004-05(2) 65 5.9 43 3.3 
			 2005-06(2) 47 4.1 11 0.8 
			 2006-07 54 4.5 25 1.9 
			 2007-08 53 4.2 -4 -0.3 
			 2008-09(2) 52 3.9 -4 -0.3 
			 2009-10 41 3.0 — — 
			  
			  Average dwelling 
			 1997-98(2) 39 7.4 36 4.9 
			 1998-99(2) 50 8.9 36 4.6 
			 1999-2000 42 6.8 42 5.2 
			 2000-01 41 6.3 27 3.2 
			 2001-02 44 6.3 39 4.5 
			 2002-03 63 8.5 63 6.9 
			 2003-04 104 12.9 93 9.5 
			 2004-05(2) 59 6.5 42 3.9 
			 2005-06(2) 42 4.3 12 1.1 
			 2006-07 47 4.7 23 2.0 
			 2007-08 45 4.3 -2 -0.2 
			 2008-09(2) 44 4.0 -2 -0.2 
			 2009-10 30 2.6 — — 
			 (1) Adjusted using the all items retail prices index (RPI) as at April each year and based on April 2008 prices. (2) Amounts shown are after the designation of authorities requiring them to recalculate their budget requirement and council tax.  Source: BR1, BR2, BR3 and CTB returns 
		
	
	The real terms change data for 2009-10 will not be available until after the publication of the April RPI figure on 19 May 2009.
	Amounts shown are calculated on headline taxes and before benefits. Where indicated the figures are calculated after the designation of authorities that required them to recalculate their budget requirement and council tax.
	The data are taken from the annual council tax base forms completed by all billing authorities in England and the Budget requirement forms completed by all billing and precepting authorities in England.

Council Tax

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make an assessment of the  (a) feasibility and  (b) likely effect on the economy of replacing council tax with a local income tax.

John Healey: No. The Government agree with Sir Michael Lyons's conclusion, following his inquiry into local government, that council tax is broadly sound and should be retained. In his report Sir Michael concluded that a local income tax would result in a "significant rebalancing of the tax burden".

Council Tax: Valuation

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 13 March 2009,  Official Report, column 765W, on council tax: valuation, when she plans to place in the Library a copy of the information referred to in the answer.

John Healey: A copy of the information referred to has been placed in the Library.

Departmental ICT

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department has spent on the maintenance of its IT equipment in the last 12 months.

Sadiq Khan: Communities and Local Government has outsourced its corporate IT service to Steria Limited and costs of maintaining IT equipment are absorbed into the annual cost of the service. The service cost for financial year April 2008 to March 2009 for that service was £4.5 million. Information on the cost of maintenance of other IT systems in the Department is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental ICT

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she has taken to reduce the level of carbon dioxide emissions arising from the operation of ICT systems in her Department under the Greening Government ICT Strategy.

Sadiq Khan: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 May 2009,  Official Report, column 234W to the hon. Member for Cardiff, Central (Jenny Willott).

Departmental Mobile Phones

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) BlackBerry devices and  (b) mobile telephones have been lost by (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in her Department and its predecessor in each year since 2005.

Sadiq Khan: There have been no BlackBerry devices or mobile telephones reported as lost by Ministers, or special advisers in Communities and Local Government, which was created in May 2006 or its predecessor, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, in any of the years since 2005.
	However, one mobile phone was reported as lost by a civil servant in Communities and Local Government in the year 2008-09.
	This answer does not include Government offices for the regions who carry out functions on behalf of 10 Government Departments.

Departmental Publications

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what timetable her Department has set for the publication of its evidence and innovation strategy.

Sadiq Khan: The Department for Communities and Local Government intends to publish an evidence and innovation strategy in late 2009.

Departmental Stationery

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department has spent on branded stationery and gifts for  (a) internal and  (b) external promotional use in each of the last five years.

Sadiq Khan: Communities and Local Government Department was established in May 2006. Since that time the Department has spent the following on branded stationery:
	
		
			   Amount spent plus VAT 
			 2006-07 18,642.50 
			 2007-08 11,005.50 
			 2008-09 7,198.65 
		
	
	For information relating to the amount spent on promotional materials for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister between 2002 and the abolition of the Department in 2006, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 25 October 2006,  Official Report, column 1934W.
	Since the establishment of the Department for Communities and Local Government the costs of gifts for internal and external promotion are not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Housing: Low Incomes

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what estimate she has made of the administrative cost to the public purse of the operation of the right to buy scheme in each year since 1997;
	(2)  what her Department's policy on the charging by local authorities of right to buy administrative costs to their housing revenue accounts is; and if she will make a statement.

Iain Wright: A local authority is permitted to fund its administrative costs incidental to and of a right to buy (RTB) disposal from the receipt arising from that disposal.
	A local authority's other administrative costs relating to RTB are required to be charged to its housing revenue account.

Local Government

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what role her Department will have in oversight of the Local Authority Leaders' Forums.

John Healey: The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill provides for the Government to establish and fund the activities of the Local Authority Leaders' Boards in relation to work on the preparation, drafting and implementation of the Regional Strategy.
	The Department will be responsible for agreeing the scheme under which the Leaders' Board in each region will be established and also for ensuring that value for money is obtained through agreement of business plans.

Local Government Finance

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer of 29 October 2007,  Official Report, columns 667-68W, on local authorities: grants, what the grant per capita to each local authority was in  (a) 2008-09 and  (b) 2009-10; and what the average grant per capita to (i) district councils, (ii) unitary councils, (iii) county councils, (iv) metropolitan councils and (v) London boroughs was in (A) 2008-09 and (B) 2009-10.

John Healey: 1 refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) on 19 January 2009,  Official Report, column 1074W.

Local Government Finance

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which shire counties do not levy a separate fire precept.

John Healey: No shire counties levy a separate fire precept.

Local Government Finance

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much debt each local authority had in the most recent year for which figures are available.

John Healey: I have today placed in the Library of the House, a table containing details of the gross debt that each local authority in England had at 31 March 2008.

Local Government Finance

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for how long local authorities retain revenue raised through reductions in council tax discounts on  (a) empty and  (b) second homes before equalisation processes in the calculation of Government grants are applied.

John Healey: The distribution of formula grant to local authorities in England takes account of the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the authority, together with its relative ability to raise council tax, expressed in terms of the council tax base. We then ensure that every authority receives at least a minimum percentage increase (the 'floor') year-on-year on a like-for-like basis. In order to pay for the cost of the floor, we scale back the increase in grant above the floor for other authorities.
	Since the introduction of multi-year settlements, we have used projected tax base data in the calculation of formula grant. The starting point for the tax base projections used in the current three-year settlement, covering 2008-09 to 2010-11, is the tax base as at 8 October 2007 adjusted for student exemptions. This is then increased annually by the Secretary of State's estimate of the average annual increase in the tax base for the authority between 10 October 2005 and 8 October 2007.
	The actual discount applied to long-term empty homes is applied for all authorities in calculating the tax base for the purposes of distributing formula grant. Any reduction in the discount applied to long-term empty homes commencing after 8 October 2007, will not be reflected in the projected taxbase calculations until the 2011-12 settlement.
	Since 1 April 2004, although billing authorities have been able to reduce the council tax discount for second homes in their area (to between 10 and 50 per cent.), a discount of 50 per cent. has continued to be assumed for all authorities in calculating the tax base for the purposes of distributing formula grant.

Local Government: Public Consultation

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the reasons are for the time taken to publish the outcomes of the Place Survey.

John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 7 May 2009,  Official Report, column 396W.

Local Government: Reorganisation

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the effect on her Department's expenditure in 2009-10 of local government restructuring.

John Healey: The Department's running cost budget for 2009-10 includes provision of £1.57 million for work on local governance, including work on any reorganisations of local authorities. As required by the affordability criterion for the unitary bids, implementing the unitary proposals is self-financing, and the savings generated by the new unitary councils are available to be invested in front-line services or to reduce the pressure on council tax; hence, implementing a unitary council has no additional impact on departmental expenditure.

Local Government: Standards

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent steps her Department has taken to monitor the performance of local authorities.

John Healey: The final results from the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) were published by the Audit Commission in March 2009. These showed the highest ever number of top-performing councils, with more than ever before assessed as 'improving strongly'.
	On 1 April we introduced the new system for assessment and inspection of local outcomes, Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA), as part of the new local performance framework. CAA builds and improves on CPA, covering outcomes delivered by local authorities acting alone or in partnership, and is carried out jointly by six local public service inspectorates. The first CAA reports will be published in November 2009. For each local area the reports will comprise an area assessment—which looks at how well local public services are delivering local priorities and how likely they are to improve in the future—and organisational assessments of individual local public bodies, including local authorities.
	Ahead of CAA, following sign-off of the new Local Area Agreements (LAAs) in June 2008, a review of local areas' initial efforts to prepare for LAA delivery was carried out by the Government Offices earlier this year. The review indicated that local authorities and their partners were progressing well with their LAAs, with the vast majority of areas strengthening partnership and delivery arrangements to enhance their ability to meet improvement targets.
	Where performance issues are not being addressed sufficiently quickly or effectively in local areas, Government Offices will work with local partners and central Government to provide challenge, broker appropriate action, and monitor improvement. This may range from additional support from the local government sector, to consultancy support, inspection, or ultimately formal intervention action.

Local Government: Standards

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she plans to publish a summary of the responses to the consultation on Changing Council Governance Arrangements.

John Healey: As we indicated in our consultation document on Changing Council Governance Arrangements, we will produce a summary of responses within three months of the close of the consultation— 13 March 2009. This will be published on the Department's website.

Non-Domestic Rates

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate her Department has made of the average  (a) business rate bill and  (b) aggregate business rate revenue at (i) the end of transitional relief period in 2009-10 and (ii) the point at which the 5 per cent. rise in the multiplier will be applied in 2009-10.

John Healey: No information is held centrally on individual businesses' bills; therefore the average change in business rates bills cannot be calculated.
	The reduction in rate yield due to full rate increases being deferred for 2008-09 was £106 million. The net change in yield as a result of transitional relief in 2008-09 was £69.4 million. Data for 2009-10 are not yet available.
	In 2009-10 businesses will be able to defer a proportion of their business rates bill increase. Following is a link to an announcement of the Government's plans for deferral, which includes an estimate of the cost of the proposal:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/localgovernment/1191049
	This estimate will be updated in the impact assessment that will be undertaken and published as part of the process of making the necessary secondary legislation.

Non-Domestic Rates

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many hereditaments in each Government office region have a rateable value of less than £10,000.

John Healey: The numbers of hereditaments with a rateable value of less than £10,000, by Government office region, are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Hereditaments with a rateable value of less than £10,000 
			   Number 
			 North East 51,304 
			 North West 158,285 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 116,216 
			 East Midlands 87,298 
			 West Midlands 117,324 
			 East of England 110,438 
			 London 138,639 
			 South East 140,899 
			 South West 127,573 
			   
			 Total England 1,047,976 
		
	
	The data are as at 31 March 2009 and are from the Valuation Office Agency.

Non-Domestic Rates

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the gross cost before the application of downward phasing was of providing transitional relief in respect of business rate revaluation in England in each year from 2005-06.

John Healey: The reduction in rate yield on the local list due to full rate increases being deferred for each year from 2005-06 is shown in the table:
	
		
			   Gross cost (£ million) 
			 2005-06(1) 1,167 
			 2006-07(1) 501 
			 2007-08(1) 230 
			 2008-09(2) 106 
			 (1) Data from NNDR 3: National Non-Domestic Rate Collection Yield Outturn returns (2) Data from NNDR 1: National Non-Domestic Rate Collection Yield Forecast returns

Non-Domestic Rates

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make it her policy to  (a) undertake and  (b) publish a (i) small firms and (ii) privacy impact assessment in respect of the 2010 business rate revaluation.

John Healey: The 2010 business rates revaluation takes effect from 1 April 2010. We will publish a draft impact assessment alongside our proposals for transitional arrangements to phase in changes in rate bills as a result of the revaluation later in the summer.

Non-Domestic Rates

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government by what date businesses must apply in order to be eligible for the deferral of 2009-10 business rate increases.

John Healey: The Government are currently considering the further detail and administrative arrangements for the business rates deferral scheme, working collaboratively with the local government sector and business to ensure ease of implementation.
	The regulations authorising the scheme are planned to come into effect this summer and will set out in detail the application process and timetable. Businesses will be contacted by their billing authority and invited to apply for the scheme shortly after the regulations come into effect.

Non-Domestic Rates

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) of 5 June 2008,  Official Report, columns 1067-68W, on non-domestic rates, what estimate her Department has made of the maximum revenue that would be raised in England from supplementary business rates based on  (a) 2009 rateable values and  (b) 2010 rateable values post-revaluation calculated on the same basis as the estimates provided for maximum revenue based on 2007 rateable values in Table 3.4 of Business Rate Supplements: A White Paper.

John Healey: The Department has not made any further calculations of possible future revenues from supplementary business rates beyond those based on 2007 rateable values and published in Table 3.4 of Business Rate Supplements: A White Paper.

Rented Housing

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will end the target rent scheme in 2009-10.

Iain Wright: No. Future rents policy is tied in with work currently being undertaken as part of the Review of Council Housing Finance.

Shops: Valuation

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of the most recent edition of the Valuation Office Agency's zoning of shops valuation handbook.

John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 8 January 2008,  Official Report, column 510W.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Government Art Collection

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many items from the Government Art Collection are in  (a) departmental offices,  (b) ministerial residences,  (c) offices of non-departmental public bodies,  (d) public galleries,  (e) embassies overseas,  (f) storage and  (g) elsewhere.

Barbara Follett: holding answer 27 April 2009
	The Government Art Collection comprises some 13,700 works of art. Its main purpose is to promote Britain by the acquisition and display of works of art (mostly by British artists) in the representational areas of major British Government buildings in the UK and abroad, where they are seen by thousands of visitors every year. At any one time some 70 per cent. of the collection is out on display, and the figures given here change on a daily basis.
	The latest figures available are:
	 (a) 2,043 Government Art Collection (GAC) works of art in departmental offices.
	 (b) 560 in ministerial residences (including the whole of 10 and 11 Downing Street).
	 (c) 187 in offices of non-departmental public bodies and similar.
	 (d) 69 on loan to public galleries (including loans to temporary exhibitions).
	 (e) 5,404 in embassies overseas.
	 (f) 4,535 currently at the GAC's premises and available for selection and display; 470 of these were earmarked for specific locations (i.e. selected and awaiting installation). Of the rest, three were in commercial storage and 23 were being conserved and/or reframed.
	 (g) 912 displayed elsewhere (i.e. to organisations which do not fall into the categories a-f, such as in London: Lancaster House, Marlborough House and the Somerset House Trust; and abroad: the Offices of the Council of Europe in Paris and the European Commission Offices in Brussels).

Performing Arts: Discrimination

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the performing arts on age discrimination in respect of performers in theatre, film, radio and television; and if he will make a statement.

Barbara Follett: I have had no recent discussions of this nature. DCMS is committed to promoting equality of opportunity and we encourage our sectors to make the most of the full range of talent available to them.

DUCHY OF LANCASTER

10 Downing Street: E-mail

Eric Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what his policy is on the use of web-based e-mail accounts on computers in 10 Downing Street.

Tom Watson: The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of Cabinet Office and therefore follows its guidelines and policies in the use of ICT. The policy for the current Cabinet Office systems does not allow for any web- based e-mail accounts. Web-based e-mail accounts are permitted on a new pilot system, due to the increased security measures we are able to apply. If the system is rolled out, the Cabinet Office will reconsider its policy on web-based e-mails.

Census: Finance

Mark Todd: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what budget has been allocated to the generation of outputs from the 2011 Census.

Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated May 2009:
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what budget has been allocated to the generation of outputs from the 2011 Census. (274196)
	The purpose of conducting a Census is to generate statistics and over the period 2005-2016 the budget for the Census as a whole is £482 million. Provision of £450 million for the cost of the Census has been made up to the period 2011-12. Of this £450 million, £7.5 million has been allocated to the early development of Census outputs. Provision for later years from 2012/13 will be subject to future spending reviews and will cover the final stages of data and output processing, preparing, publishing and disseminating outputs, and a number of subsequent output services and releases. This is set out in paragraphs 1.28 and 1.29 of the 2011 Census White Paper 'Helping to shape tomorrow' which was published in December 2008. A copy was placed in the House of Commons library and is also available on the website at
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-project/legislation/index.html
	Final decisions have not yet been made about how the statistics are disseminated. We are at present conducting consultation with census users on their requirements for types of statistics and area levels and the ways in which they will be made available.

Civil Servants: Pensions

Andrew Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many and what proportion of former civil servants have had their pension payments  (a) reduced and  (b) increased in the last 12 months; and for what reason in each case.

Tom Watson: In April each year the pensions, payable from the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, of all former civil servants and their dependants are increased in line with inflation in accordance with the provisions of the Pensions Increase Act 1971 and Social Security Pensions Act 1975.
	The Civil Service Pension Scheme is a statutory scheme and pensions are accordingly corrected when an under or overpayment is identified. I refer the hon. Member to the written statement I gave to the House on 16 December 2008.

Civil Servants: Pensions

Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the administration costs of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme were in each of the last 10 years.

Tom Watson: Central management costs of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme are met by appropriations in aid of the Cabinet Office from the accruing superannuation liability charges paid by employers. For financial years from 2001-02, these amounts are shown by way of note to the resource accounts for Cabinet Office: Civil Superannuation. The central administration costs for earlier years are:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 2000-01 14.4 
			 1999-2000 13.6 
			 1998-99 13.5 
		
	
	Day-to-day administration costs are met by individual employers and details are not held centrally.

Civil Servants: Pensions

Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many early retirements among members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme there were in the last five years for which figures are available.

Tom Watson: Figures are held centrally only in respect of early retirements on the grounds of ill-health. From 2006-07 these numbers are included in the resource accounts for Cabinet Office: Civil Superannuation. Copies of the resource accounts can be found in the Library and on the civil service pensions website at
	www.civilservice.gov.uk/pensions
	Figures for the earlier years are as follows:
	
		
			  Financial year  Ill-health retirement applications approved 
			 2003-04 1,343 
			 2004-05 1,209 
			 2005-06 1,135

Civil Servants: Pensions

Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what guidance the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme has issued to employing departments on enhancements of civil service pension entitlements for scheme members who  (a) are made redundant,  (b) take early retirement other than on grounds of ill health and  (c) take early retirement on grounds of ill health.

Tom Watson: On redundancies and early retirements other than those on the grounds of ill-health, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given in the other place to the noble Lord, Lord Laird, on 3 March 2009,  Official Report,  House of Lords, columns WA 134-35.
	The terms payable in respect of early retirements on the grounds of ill-health are set out in the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, a statutory scheme made under the Superannuation Act 1972. The rules of the scheme can be found on the Civil Service Pensions website at:
	www.civilservice.gov.uk/pensions

Civil Servants: Pensions

Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the cost of pension payments made to civil servants who have taken early retirement between the date of their retirement and the date they reached the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme normal retirement age was in each of the last five years.

Tom Watson: Employing Departments are responsible for meeting the full costs of early retirements of civil servants other than those on the grounds of ill-health. The annual cost of pension payments made before the scheme's pension age in respect of such early retirements is contained in Cabinet Office: Civil Superannuation Resource Accounts (in the note to the accounts entitled "Revenue account—CSCS compensation agency arrangements"). Copies of the resource accounts can be found in the Library and on the civil service pensions website at:
	www.civilservice.gov.uk/pensions
	The annual cost of pension payments made before the scheme's pension age in respect of early retirements on the grounds of ill-health is not recorded separately. However, each year, the resource accounts of each employing department give details of the total additional annual pension granted to any of their employees who retired on the grounds of ill-health during that year.

Civil Servants: Pensions

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many retired civil servants receive a civil service pension of between  (a) £2,000 and £3,000,  (b) £3,000 and £4,000 and  (c) £4,000 and £5,000 per annum.

Tom Watson: holding answer 11 May 2009
	As at 7 May 2009 the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme is paying 52,741 pensioners a gross pension between £2000 and £3000; 46,257 pensioners a pension between £3,000 and £4,000, and 37,644 pensioners a pension between £4,000 and £5,000 per annum. "Pensioners" includes retired officers but not those in receipt of a dependant's pension.

Civil Servants: Redundancy

Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what his policy is on the size of redundancy payments for civil servants; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Watson: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by the Prime Minister on 31 March 2009,  Official Report, column 60-61WS.

Civil Service

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the mechanisms are for reviewing the content of the Civil Service Code; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Watson: The Civil Service Code is kept under review and is updated as and when required.
	Copies of the Civil Service Code are available in the Library of the House and available at
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/Assets/cs_code_tcm6-2444.pdf

Departmental Contracts for Services

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which services his Department has outsourced in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Kevin Brennan: Information regarding contracts for the provision of estates management and corporately provided information and communications technology (ICT) which have been outsourced over the past five years, and the year that they were outsourced, are as follows:
	Telephone service management (2007);
	Security guarding services, not previously outsourced (2007).
	Centrally held records do not show any other services being outsourced over that period.

Departmental Correspondence

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what procedure his Department follows for dealing with complaints received  (a) by e-mail,  (b) by post,  (c) by telephone and  (d) via his Department's website.

Tom Watson: The complaints handling procedure for the Cabinet Office is available on the Cabinet Office website at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ContactUs/Complaints.aspx
	A copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

Departmental ICT

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the average server capacity utilisation by each division of his Department was in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Watson: The majority of servers used by my Department are supplied under our current ICT contract by Fujitsu services. The Cabinet Office possesses fileserver storage used mainly for the storage of documents and databases. The amount used over the past four years is as follows:
	
		
			   December 
			   2005  2006  2007  2008 
			 Data Size (GB) 2,481 3,814 4,700 5,400 
			 Utilisation (percentage) 30 46 57 65 
		
	
	We have no information about the server capacity utilisation in 2004.
	The Department also has a small number of servers used for the operation of its e-mail system. The volatile nature of the e-mail traffic and the need to keep real-time backups, mean that these servers provide optimum performance at less than 20 per cent. capacity.
	The Department has recently instituted a policy of moving to storage area networking (SAN) devices. These allow several applications to share a server and so make much more efficient use of its capacity. Our current SAN has a utilisation rate of 80 per cent.

Departmental ICT

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many  (a) printers and  (b) multi-function devices with printing functions were in use in each division of his Department in each of the last five years; how many such devices had a function enabling two-sided printing; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Watson: On 17 July 2008, I launched the Greening Government ICT Strategy. Its aim is to reduce the environmental impact of the computer systems employed by all Government bodies. In the strategy, one important target is to reduce the overall number of printers used by an organisation and replace them with multi-function devices (MFDs) where security issues allow. The MFDs should use green printing defaults wherever possible.
	The Department has used the following number of multi-function devices with printing functions and printers during the past five years.
	
		
			  December  MFDs  Printers 
			 2008 147 164 
			 2007 167 161 
			 2006 156 150 
			 2005 149 133 
			 2004 128 127 
		
	
	All multi-functional devices are capable of two-sided printing, and indeed are set up to do so as the default.
	Since 2003, my Department has had a policy of installing multi-user MFDs as the main device for printing. A number of printers have been retained, but they are only used where there are specific business reasons.

Departmental Mobile Phones

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many  (a) BlackBerrys and  (b) other mobile telephones have been provided to (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in (A) the Cabinet Office and (B) the Prime Minister's Office in each year since 2005.

Tom Watson: The number of mobile phones purchased by the Cabinet Office in each year since 2005 are shown as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2005 219 
			 2006 242 
			 2007 226 
			 2008 235 
		
	
	At April 2009 the Cabinet Office has 198 BlackBerrys in use. Records of when these were purchased are not held centrally so the information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Our records do not differentiate between mobile devices supplied to Ministers, special advisers and civil servants.
	The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

Departmental Official Hospitality

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much his Department has spent on  (a) conference services and  (b) banqueting services in each of the last five years.

Kevin Brennan: Information relating to spend on conference and banqueting services is not held centrally and therefore is available only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Safety

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much his Department spent on compliance with requirements of health and safety at work legislation in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Kevin Brennan: Information relating to spend on health and safety for each of the last five years is not held centrally and therefore is available only at disproportionate cost.

Government Departments: Data Protection

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will discuss with the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform the implications for handling sensitive data of the overseas ownership of suppliers of services to BT under its contract for handling sensitive Government IT systems.

Tom Watson: All communications services providers supplying services to Government must comply with the appropriate security standards as determined by Government Departments in their information risk management and protective security policies.
	Regular discussions take place between Ministers and officials across government as appropriate to address information security and assurance requirements and policies for Government.

Government Departments: Press Releases

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether the  (a) issue and  (b) content of departmental press releases is subject to a code of conduct.

Tom Watson: All Government communications activity is subject to strict propriety guidance, which, along with the Civil Service Code, defines how civil servants can properly and effectively present Government policies and programmes.
	Copies of the communication propriety guidance have been placed in the Library of the House, copies of the Civil Service Code are available in the Library of the House and can be found at:
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/Assets/cs_code_tcm6-2444.pdf

Local Government: Standards

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster who monitors the performance of local authorities under the  (a) Customer Service Excellence and  (b) Charter Mark schemes.

Tom Watson: Cabinet Office is the owner of the customer service excellence and charter mark schemes. Cabinet Office licenses four independent certification bodies to provide assessment processes for customer service excellence and charter mark. The certification bodies are the sole decision makers in the process of certifying organisations as CSE or charter mark holders. They manage all matters relating to the ongoing suitability and status of holders in local government and other sectors.

Ministers: Costs

Michael Fallon: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will estimate the average annual cost to each Department of  (a) a Secretary of State,  (b) a Minister of State and  (c) a Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the last 12 months.

Tom Watson: holding answer 7 May 2009
	Instruction on the reporting of the remuneration of Government Ministers is set out by HM Treasury in the Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM). Under this guidance, information on ministerial salaries is provided in the remuneration section of Departments' annual Resource Accounts, copies of which are in the Library of the House.

Ministers: Data Protection

Nigel Evans: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many security breaches involving confidential documents left  (a) on public transport and  (b) elsewhere involved (i) Cabinet Ministers and (ii) advisers to Cabinet Ministers in each of the last three years.

Tom Watson: It is for individual Departments to collate information on security breaches within their Departments.

Pensions

John Baron: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much revenue he expects to accrue to the Exchequer from the application of the correct pension increases for pensioners in the five schemes affected by the incorrect indexation of the guaranteed minimum pension in the next 12 months.

Tom Watson: Pensions and other benefits paid from the pension schemes concerned are accounted for in the annual Resource Accounts for the schemes. Resource Accounts for the year 2009-10 will be published following the end of the year in question.

Strategy Committee

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the reasons were for the formation of the Cabinet Office's Strategy Committee; when it was established; on whose authority the committee was established; what its objectives are; who its members are; how often it has met; and if he will make a statement.

Kevin Brennan: There is no such committee within the Cabinet Office.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMMITTEE

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission what estimate the Electoral Commission has made of the proportion of unregistered voters who are functionally illiterate.

Peter Viggers: The Commission informs me that it has made no estimate of the proportion of unregistered voters who are functionally illiterate.
	However, the Commission's 2005 report, "Understanding electoral registration", found a correlation between under-registration and those with no educational qualifications. This correlation is more pronounced for the younger age groups, with non-registration approximately 8 per cent. among 18 to 34-year-olds who hold some form of educational qualification and 15 per cent. for those reporting no qualifications.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission what steps the Electoral Commission is taking to assist functionally illiterate people to register to vote.

Peter Viggers: The Commission informs me that it issues guidance to electoral registration officers (EROs) on providing assistance to people with low levels of literacy, and that it includes as part of its performance standards framework a requirement that EROs ensure that the registration process is straightforward and accessible for electors.
	The Commission provides materials to help EROs and community groups to communicate with people with literacy or learning difficulties, and also funds, through its partnership grants programme, projects to increase registration among people with learning disabilities.

Local Government: Suffolk

Richard Spring: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission for what reasons the Boundary Committee for England did not select the East Suffolk/West Suffolk/Ipswich pattern as a formal option for consultation in its structural review of Suffolk local government.

Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that the Boundary Committee considered that an East Suffolk/West Suffolk/Ipswich pattern would, on the basis of the information before it, be unlikely to have the capacity to deliver the outcomes specified by the Secretary of State's five criteria.

Local Government: Suffolk

Richard Spring: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission for what reasons the Boundary Committee for England's March 2009 consultation on preferred patterns for the future of local government in Suffolk proposed an additional public service village in Stowmarket in the rural authority in the pattern B option; and for what reasons such a village was not proposed in the pattern A option.

Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that in its further draft proposal report the Boundary Committee outlined potential arrangements to deliver the outcomes specified by the Secretary of State's five criteria.
	One of these arrangements is for a pattern of "service delivery villages". These are centres typically providing shared local offices for public sector service providers, intended to encourage shared solutions to local problems. In pattern A, which is a unitary county authority, the committee proposed locating the public service villages in the three largest towns: Ipswich, Bury St. Edmunds and Lowestoft. In pattern B, the committee requested views on whether the town of Stowmarket would be an appropriate location for a public service village, serving residents living in the centre of Suffolk, bearing in mind that Ipswich would be included in a separate unitary authority.

Local Government: Suffolk

Richard Spring: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission whether the Boundary Committee for England has determined Lowestoft to be  (a) an urban area and  (b) a market town.

Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that its Boundary Committee has not determined Lowestoft to be either an urban area or a market town for the purposes of its further draft proposals for unitary local government in Suffolk. It is not the committee's remit to decide how an area should be defined.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

British Nuclear Fuels

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the  (a) final severance package and  (b) pension arrangements were for the previous chief executive of British Nuclear Fuels plc.

Patrick McFadden: I have been asked to reply.
	In line with the company's standard terms of employment, the outgoing chief executive of BNFL, Mike Parker CBE, is entitled to a redundancy payment equivalent to one times his basic salary. There are no other severance related payments due to him. There are no BNFL pension arrangements for Mike Parker; he does not participate in the BNFL pension scheme and the company has not made contributions to any other pension scheme on his behalf.

Government Departments: Carbon Emissions

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what mechanism exists for the co-ordination of measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from Government Departments' data centres.

Tom Watson: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government Chief Information Officer Council is co-ordinating measures to implement the Greening Government ICT Strategy published last July. The strategy includes early actions to increase the average server capacity utilisation, which will reduce the overall level of carbon dioxide emissions in data centres and accord with the European Code of Conduct. The CIO Council are also working with the Public Sector Council of Intellect, the trade association for the high technology industries, on a forward strategy for Government data centres to reduce costs and carbon emissions.

Winter Fuel Payments

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending eligibility for the £200 annual winter fuel payment to all people with spinal cord injuries.

Rosie Winterton: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested is not available.
	Winter fuel payments are made to people aged 60 or over, including those who are disabled. We do not collect statistics on the number of people aged below 60 with spinal cord injuries.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Flood Control

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  how many times the National Resilience Forum on Flooding has met since it was established; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what the membership of the National Resilience Forum on Flooding is; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Watson: I have been asked to reply.
	The National Resilience Forum has not yet met. In December, in the Government's reply to Sir Michael Pitt's Review, we said that the aim would be for an inaugural meeting in the first half of 2009. The National Security Forum has since met for the first time, in March, which has helped us review proposals for the National Resilience Forum. Detailed proposals and the issue of invitations will commence as soon as possible after this review is complete.

Floods: Property Development

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 2 April 2009,  Official Report, column 1302W, on floods: property development, how many local planning authorities are considered by the Environment Agency not to have complied with planning policy statement 25 in each of the last five years.

Huw Irranca-Davies: The Environment Agency has advised that the number of planning applications given planning permission against its advice on flood risk grounds over the past five years, and the number of local planning authorities (LPAs) this represented, is as follows:
	
		
			   Total number of planning applications permitted against Environment Agency advice on flood risk  Total n umber of LPAs granting planning permission against an Environment Agency flood risk objection 
			 2003-04 323 85 
			 2004-05 248 108 
			 2005-06 136 82 
			 2006-07 110 72 
			 2007-08 124 76 
		
	
	Planning policy statement (PPS) 25, 'Development and Flood Risk', was published in December 2006. Prior to that date, national planning policy on development and flood risk was set out in planning policy guidance note 25. These policies apply only to England.
	It is for the local planning authority to determine planning applications in accordance with the development plan for the area, taking account of the particular circumstances of each application and subject to other material planning considerations.
	Further detailed information about the extent to which local planning authorities have taken account of the Environment Agency's advice on flood risk is set out in the Environment Agency's annual 'Development and Flood Risk' monitoring report. The most recent report was published in February 2009, covering the period 2007-08. This shows that where flood risk was an issue, around 96 per cent. of all planning application decisions, as notified to the Environment Agency, were in line with the Environment Agency's advice.

Hydroelectric Power: Licensing

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many water abstraction licences for hydro-electric schemes the Environment Agency has  (a) received an application for,  (b) issued and  (c) refused in (i) England and (ii) Wales in each of the last three years.

Huw Irranca-Davies: The number of abstraction licence applications received and new abstraction licences granted for hydropower schemes are given in the following table. The Environment Agency introduced a national Water Resources authorisations receipt tracking system in November 2008. As a result, data on the number of applications received and refused are only available from November 2008 onwards. Prior to this, information was not held centrally. To collate pre-2008 data would incur disproportionate costs.
	
		
			   Applications received  Licences refused  Licences issued 
			   England  Wales  England  Wales  England  Wales 
			 2006 n/a n/a n/a n/a 11 0 
			 2007 n/a n/a n/a n/a 4 2 
			 2008 4 0 0 0 10 1 
			 2009 13 0 0 0 7 0

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

1 Carlton Gardens

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst of 27 February 2009,  Official Report, column 1196W, on departmental buildings, to what use the ministerial residence within 1 Carlton Gardens has been put.

Gillian Merron: The ministerial residence within 1 Carlton Gardens has not been used since 16 October 2007 but the Foreign and Commonwealth Office uses the function rooms of 1 Carlton Gardens for a range of events hosted by Ministers and senior officials, as well as other departmental meetings.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Pakistani Government on minimisation of civilian casualties during military operations in Buner and Lower Dir.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 7 May 2009
	My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary last discussed the situation in North West Frontier province with Foreign Minister Qureshi on 25 April 2009. As part of our wider defence engagement programme, we will continue our efforts to build the capacity of the Pakistani military to mount effective operations that minimise civilian casualties. The UK is also helping the Government of Pakistan to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of those most directly affected by insecurity. We have so far dispersed £2 million and have recently committed an additional £10 million. Our funds are being channelled through humanitarian agencies on the ground to give food supplies and shelter to those most in need, as well as supplying essential water and sanitation and basic health care.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information his Department holds on the deployment of armed US Predator unmanned aerial vehicles from airbases within Pakistan.

Bill Rammell: US actions should be discussed between the US and Pakistani Governments. We cannot comment on intelligence matters.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has had recent discussions with the Government of Pakistan on the deployment of armed US Predator unmanned aerial vehicles within Pakistani airspace.

Bill Rammell: Any such deployments would be for discussion between the US and Pakistani Governments.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Mid-Sussex of 27 April 2009,  Official Report, column 1030W, on Afghanistan: peacekeeping operations, what the dates were of the secondment of each UK official to the US-led review of American defence and security policy; and if he will make a statement.

David Miliband: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Gillian Merron) gave on 26 November 2008,  Official Report, columns 1795-1796W.

British Indian Ocean Territory: Nature Conservation

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues on the possibility of formulating a long-term conservation framework with a natural conservation area in the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Gillian Merron: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) Administration are committed to high standards of environmental protection in BIOT. There is a legislative framework, protection of sites and species of particular importance, and designated reserves (an area of Diego Garcia has been designated as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands). These have contributed to the very high levels of nature conservation achieved in the territory.
	The FCO and BIOT Administration are keen to explore options for further enhancing levels of environmental protection in BIOT and welcome the interest expressed, for example, by the Chagos Environment Network who have recently proposed the establishment of a large-scale Marine Protected Area.
	These issues have not been the subject of discussion with ministerial colleagues, but FCO officials have been asked to engage with officials in other Government Departments.

Colombia: Foreign Relations

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his latest assessment is of the state of relations between the UK and Colombia; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: The UK maintains a constructive partnership with Colombia, working with the Colombian Government, international and civil society partners on a number of shared challenges including human rights, counter-narcotics, impunity and climate change.
	My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary gave a written ministerial statement on UK policy towards Colombia on 30 March 2009,  Official Report, column 40WS, which outlined changes to the way we deliver our objectives in Colombia, including giving priority to tackling impunity in the criminal justice system, and promoting the work of human rights and civil society organisations in Colombia.

Conflict Resolution

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the performance of the right hon. Dr Jack McConnell MSP in his capacity as the Prime Minister's Special Representative for Conflict Resolution Mechanisms since his appointment in October 2008.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 8 May 2009
	The right hon. Jack McConnell MSP, the Prime Minister's Special Representative on Conflict Resolution Mechanisms has made a valuable contribution to advancing the UK's peace building objectives since his appointment in October 2008. He has in particular engaged with the UN Secretariat and key stakeholders around the world to press for an ambitious UN Secretary-General report on peace building in the immediate aftermath of conflict.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Security

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his most recent assessment is of the security situation in South Kivu; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: Over the last month the security situation in South Kivu has remained tense. Joint operations by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) military and UN peacekeepers against the Rwandan Hutu Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) militia have begun. For the time being, the FDLR continues to pose a serious threat to the civilian population in South Kivu, and to commit atrocities in eastern DRC.
	I welcome the effort to apply pressure to the FDLR. We are providing support to help FDLR fighters who wish to leave the organisation to do so. Former members of other militias in South Kivu are entering into a process of integration into the DRC army.

Departmental Mobile Phones

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many  (a) BlackBerry devices and  (b) mobile telephones have been lost by (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in his Department in each year since 2005.

Gillian Merron: We do not keep a record of the number of devices lost on a yearly basis.

Departmental Public Expenditure

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 27 April 2009,  Official Report, column 1032W, on departmental public expenditure, what resource allocation was made for each overseas post for  (a) 2007-08 and  (b) 2008-09.

David Miliband: The following table gives net administration allocations by post for 2007-08 and 2008-09. Programme allocations are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  £ 
			   Net budget 
			  Post name  2007-08  2008-09 
			 Abu Dhabi 1,572,681 1,752,716 
			 Abuja 3,554,614 5,020,710 
			 Accra 3,086,040 3,257,524 
			 Addis Ababa 1,171,123 1,329,804 
			 Alexandria 202,731 238,579 
			 Algiers 1,533,265 2,188,879 
			 Amman 2,017,393 3,067,325 
			 Amsterdam 834,716 779,968 
			 Anguilla — 299,755 
			 Ankara 2,948,293 4,465,499 
			 Ashgabat 319,179 414,932 
			 Asmara 124,650 183,269 
			 Astana 851,062 1,115,209 
			 Athens 3,270,021 3,830,127 
			 Auckland 377,800 377,806 
			 Baghdad 26,584,327 2,673,946 
			 Bahrain 653,994 883,516 
			 Baku 784,919 1,137,164 
			 Bandar Seri Begawan 493,331 725,516 
			 Bangkok 2,071,120 2,818,570 
			 Banjul 503,026 562,103 
			 Basra 6,800,947 1,426,582 
			 Beirut 1,486,136 2,022,993 
			 Belgrade 1,926,599 2,561,436 
			 Belmopan 996,494 1,036,158 
			 Berlin 9,619,290 11,174,075 
			 Berne 2,080,823 3,022,511 
			 Bogota 1,791,605 2,288,380 
			 Bordeaux 92,591 87,580 
			 Brasilia 2,820,941 4,511,063 
			 Bratislava 720,791 846,555 
			 Bridgetown 989,862 1,202,104 
			 Brisbane 346,801 432,226 
			 Brussels 1,759,722 1,769,060 
			 Brussels Jmo 1,545,524 2,108,133 
			 Brussels Ukdel 1,230,250 1,273,536 
			 Brussels Ukrep 4,722,787 5,428,993 
			 Bucharest 1,696,001 2,024,966 
			 Budapest 1,769,921 2,084,513 
			 Buenos Aires 1,992,059 2,285,505 
			 Cairo 1,681,938 2,185,528 
			 Canberra 3,826,469 4,708,828 
			 Cape Town 667,062 698,572 
			 Caracas 1,314,228 1,798,230 
			 Castries 76,124 122,533 
			 Chennai 1,118,356 1,175,587 
			 Chisinau 383,987 442,085 
			 Chongqing 701,261 761,355 
			 Colombo (inc. Maldives) 983,532 1,198,960 
			 Copenhagen (inc. Torshavn) 2,818,761 3,525,259 
			 Dakar 404,312 521,654 
			 Damascus 748,137 1,200,735 
			 Dar Es Salaam 783,804 928,956 
			 Dhaka 2,251,636 2,399,027 
			 Doha 1,196,202 1,798,694 
			 Dubai 2,469,473 3,266,203 
			 Dublin 2,686,160 3,035,020 
			 Dushanbe 426,892 555,239 
			 Dusseldorf 3,171,526 3,781,535 
			 Ekaterinburg 282,226 302,869 
			 Erbil — 140,569 
			 Freetown 1,108,162 1,289,409 
			 Gaborone 207,884 257,933 
			 Geneva 2,785,634 3,760,260 
			 Georgetown 555,005 601,409 
			 Gibraltar 1,269,485 1,079,654 
			 Grand Cayman 226,174 151,865 
			 Grand Turk 305,617 317,317 
			 Guangzhou 1,413,497 2,097,406 
			 Guatemala City 1,010,725 730,975 
			 Hanoi 611,542 728,040 
			 Harare 1,487,040 1,815,506 
			 Havana 1,080,012 1,158,045 
			 Helsinki 1,809,797 2,087,428 
			 Ho Chi Minh City 331,617 515,784 
			 Hong Kong CG 4,639,855 4,705,475 
			 Honiara 158,607 176,287 
			 Islamabad 3,848,446 3,934,619 
			 Istanbul 2,992,285 2,055,233 
			 Jakarta 1,999,872 2,270,617 
			 Jeddah 902,238 0 
			 Jerusalem 1,349,103 1,938,662 
			 Johannesburg 842,801 1,007,857 
			 Kabul 12,169,820 19,635,051 
			 Kampala 1,588,297 1,423,909 
			 Karachi 822,293 851,778 
			 Kathmandu 707,020 757,460 
			 Khartoum 2,193,939 3,780,923 
			 Kiev 1,489,357 2,365,230 
			 Kigali 520,046 509,329 
			 Kingston 1,787,526 2,640,442 
			 Kinshasa 1,165,842 1,677,009 
			 Kirkuk 1,390,059 0 
			 Kolkata 321,640 300,305 
			 Kuala Lumpur 1,636,764 2,182,163 
			 Kuwait 1,569,723 2,278,500 
			 La Paz 345,724 482,107 
			 Lagos (inc. Cotonou) 5,514,863 7,115,131 
			 Lille 101,438 119,466 
			 Lilongwe (inc. Blantyre) 488,178 497,066 
			 Lima 1,117,531 1,486,548 
			 Lisbon 2,139,305 2,489,812 
			 Ljubljana 679,431 804,564 
			 Luanda 1,205,953 1,421,398 
			 Lusaka 898,246 1,019,562 
			 Luxembourg 581,764 538,044 
			 Lyon 80,207 88,686 
			 Madrid 7,728,424 9,386,780 
			 Manila 1,829,679 2,016,352 
			 Maputo 786,037 789,291 
			 Marseilles 77,506 63,600 
			 Melbourne 590,268 739,641 
			 Mexico City 2,818,773 2,912,994 
			 Minsk 220,814 273,281 
			 Montevideo 546,380 1,244,751 
			 Montreal 278,223 173,676 
			 Moscow 6,181,190 7,149,679 
			 Mumbai 1,557,814 2,000,928 
			 Munich 954,763 1,000,437 
			 Muscat 1,097,759 1,521,012 
			 Nairobi 2,824,968 3,328,947 
			 New Delhi 7,447,508 7,824,391 
			 New York Cg 2,361,293 0 
			 Nicosia 2,195,677 2,922,541 
			 Osaka 1,184,605 1,870,801 
			 Oslo 2,047,093 2,327,855 
			 Ottawa 3,696,031 3,257,247 
			 Panama City 413,424 609,718 
			 Paris 10,746,611 13,302,223 
			 Peking (Beijing) 4,773,854 6,313,945 
			 Perth 248,474 338,546 
			 Phnom Penh 326,998 463,172 
			 Plymouth 310,536 279,616 
			 Podgorica — 255,393 
			 Port Louis 370,368 476,964 
			 Port Moresby 299,819 490,659 
			 Port Of Spain 1,138,262 1,188,935 
			 Prague 1,582,009 2,073,835 
			 Pretoria 2,737,135 3,744,963 
			 Pristina 532,812 704,319 
			 Pyongyang 189,743 220,053 
			 Quito 444,535 544,209 
			 Rabat 1,739,766 2,209,227 
			 Rangoon 567,660 766,378 
			 Reykjavik 507,994 415,063 
			 Riga 576,851 782,674 
			 Rio De Janeiro 1,176,852 1,671,389 
			 Riyadh 2,256,078 4,218,700 
			 Rome 7,280,184 8,979,533 
			 San Jose 304,663 589,949 
			 Sana'a 1,449,958 1,374,296 
			 Santiago 1,183,681 1,940,182 
			 Santo Domingo 291,616 392,158 
			 Sao Paulo 1,785,853 2,541,755 
			 Sarajevo 858,826 974,585 
			 Seoul 2,856,603 2,833,744 
			 Shanghai 1,617,187 2,092,390 
			 Singapore 2,322,457 3,225,627 
			 Skopje 617,985 812,888 
			 Sofia 1,070,516 1,113,034 
			 St. George's 64,829 20,000 
			 St. John's 132,290 66,409 
			 St. Petersburg 828,538 972,984 
			 Stanley 103,220 251,653 
			 Stockholm 2,264,286 2,768,901 
			 Strasbourg 201,803 216,288 
			 Suva 590,919 674,896 
			 Sydney 1,435,245 1,473,760 
			 Taipei Btco 1,256,380 1,347,774 
			 Tallinn 626,126 890,640 
			 Tashkent 643,125 738,165 
			 Tbilisi 607,777 905,533 
			 Tehran 2,419,129 3,067,194 
			 Tel Aviv 2,026,430 2,676,651 
			 The Hague 2,377,310 2,481,914 
			 Tirana 552,704 567,072 
			 Tokyo 7,590,776 9,319,443 
			 Toronto 1,169,826 1,256,037 
			 Tortola 474,129 281,621 
			 Tripoli 2,034,987 2,174,438 
			 Tunis 814,700 980,533 
			 UKMis New York 3,781,613 4,449,125 
			 Ulaanbaatar 253,919 170,803 
			 Valletta 695,316 804,351 
			 Vancouver 375,147 647,884 
			 Victoria 247,500 198,928 
			 Vienna 3,488,089 3,959,201 
			 Vilnius 626,692 859,001 
			 Warsaw 2,180,512 2,535,063 
			 Washington 17,375,714 23,212,645 
			 Wellington 1,620,198 1,647,447 
			 Windhoek 299,991 262,758 
			 Yaounde 637,766 733,532 
			 Yerevan 385,782 532,762 
			 Zagreb 1,016,346 1,223,445

Departmental Stationery

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of office supplies purchased by his Department were recycled products in the latest period for which figures are available.

Gillian Merron: Data on Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spend on products from recycled materials are not held centrally, and establishing the global proportion of the FCO's office supplies being made from recycled materials could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. A trawl of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO's) principal suppliers of office supplies in the UK, has identified that:
	The FCO's A4 paper supplies are made from 100 per cent. recycled materials, and a number of more specialised paper products are made from 75 per cent. recycled materials;
	80 per cent. of the FCO's bespoke print paper products from its in-house print facility are made from 100 per cent. recycled materials;
	The FCO's contracted stationery supplier provides a range of products meeting certain environmental criteria, including but not exclusively, being made from recycled materials. Since 1 May 2008, 18.47 per cent. of the FCO's spend with this supplier has been on products which meet their criteria as being environmentally sound;
	Chairs purchased by the FCO contain 50 per cent. recycled materials.

Diplomatic Service: Allowances

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to the answer of 27 February 2008,  Official Report, column 1196W, on departmental pay, what the source of the security advice used to calculate the hardship element of the Diplomatic Service Compensation Allowance is.

Gillian Merron: The Diplomatic Service Compensation Allowance hardship allowance is based on scores supplied by an independent company, Employment Conditions Abroad (ECA). ECA score posts around the world in 16 different categories including personal security and socio-political tension, based on their own independent research and information derived from the annual location ranking survey completed by their member organisations. They reflect conditions for an average expatriate living in the city concerned. These scores are then re-weighted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (multiplied by 1.389) to reflect the additional security risk staff may face because of their higher profile as official Government representatives overseas.
	In addition to ECA's security score, our own security advisers award points based on their assessment of the security threat to British diplomats and their families from terrorism, hostile intelligence activity and political violence.

Diplomatic Service: Allowances

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which posts qualify civilian employees of his Department for the hardship element of the Diplomatic Service Compensation Allowance (DSCA); and what the monthly rate of DSCA hardship allowance paid to staff at each post is.

Gillian Merron: Each of the posts in the following table qualifies for DSCA hardship allowance. The list and the rates paid are revised annually. The accompanied rates are paid to an officer posted with their spouse/registered partner. Unaccompanied rates are paid to single officers or staff with a spouse/registered partner elsewhere. The rates are changed on 1 January every year.
	
		
			   Accompanied  Unaccompanied  Effective date 
			 Abidjan 8,919 4,460 1 January 2009 
			 Abu Dhabi 1,517 759 1 January 2009 
			 Abuja 14,804 7,402 1 January 2009 
			 Accra 4,219 2,110 1 January 2009 
			 Addis Ababa 8,919 4,460 1 January 2009 
			 Al Khobar 7,957 3,979 1 January 2009 
			 Alexandria 3,849 1,925 1 January 2009 
			 Algiers 12,028 6,014 1 January 2009 
			 Almaty 4,219 2,110 1 January 2009 
			 Amman 2,221 1,110 1 January 2009 
			 Ankara 3,849 1,925 1 January 2009 
			 Ashgabat 6,144 3,072 1 January 2009 
			 Asmara 8,438 4,219 1 January 2009 
			 Astana 4,959 2,480 1 January 2009 
			 Baghdad 0 27,683 1 January 2009 
			 Bahrain 1,221 611 1 January 2009 
			 Baku 3,479 1,739 1 January 2009 
			 Bamako 6,144 3,072 1 January 2009 
			 Bandar Seri Begawan 2,036 1,018 1 January 2009 
			 Bangalore 4,959 2,480 1 January 2009 
			 Bangkok 2,517 1,258 1 January 2009 
			 Banja Luka 3,109 1,554 1 January 2009 
			 Banjul 4,589 2,295 1 January 2009 
			 Basra 0 27,683 1 January 2009 
			 Beijing 2,813 1,406 1 January 2009 
			 Beirut 5,329 2,665 1 January 2009 
			 Belgrade 5,700 2,850 1 January 2009 
			 Belmopan 4,589 2,295 1 January 2009 
			 Bogota 7,032 3,516 1 January 2009 
			 Brasilia 2,813 1,406 1 January 2009 
			 Bucharest 925 463 1 January 2009 
			 Buenos Aires 1,517 759 1 January 2009 
			 Bujumbura 9,919 4,959 1 January 2009 
			 Cairo 7,032 3,516 1 January 2009 
			 Cape Town 2,221 1,110 1 January 2009 
			 Caracas 5,700 2,850 1 January 2009 
			 Casablanca 3,109 1,554 1 January 2009 
			 Castries 1,517 759 1 January 2009 
			 Chennai 6,144 3,072 1 January 2009 
			 Chisinau 5,700 2,850 1 January 2009 
			 Chongqing 6,144 3,072 1 January 2009 
			 Co1ombo 8,919 4,460 1 January 2009 
			 Conakry 9,401 4,700 1 January 2009 
			 Dakar 5,700 2,850 1 January 2009 
			 Damascus 6,144 3,072 1 January 2009 
			 Dar es Salaam 6,588 3,294 1 January 2009 
			 Dhaka 12,583 6,292 1 January 2009 
			 Doha 1,517 759 1 January 2009. 
			 Dubai 1,369 685 1 January 2009 
			 Durban 2,517 1,258 1 January 2009 
			 Dushanbe 9,401 4,700 1 January 2009 
			 Erbil 0 19,630 1 January 2009 
			 Freetown 9,919 4,959 1 January 2009 
			 Gaborone 1,221 611 1 January 2009 
			 Georgetown 6,144 3,072 1 January 2009 
			 Grand Turk 2,813 1,406 1 October 2008 
			 Guangzhou 5,329 2,665 1 January 2009 
			 Guatemala City 4,589 2,295 1 January 2009 
			 Hanoi 4,589 2,295 1 January 2009 
			 Harare 10,437 5,218 1 January 2009 
			 Havana 4,589 2,295 1 January 2009 
			 Ho Chi Minh City 5,700 2,850 1 January 2009 
			 Honiara 7,957 3,979 1 January 2009 
			 Islamabad 23,094 11,547 1 January 2009 
			 Istanbul 2,221 1,110 1 January 2009 
			 Jakarta 14804 7,402 1 January 2009 
			 Jedda 7,032 3,516 1 January 2009 
			 Jerusalem 3,849 1,925 1 January 2009 
			 Johannesburg 1,851 925 1 January 2009 
			 Juba 19,541 9,771 1 January 2009 
			 Kabul 0 18,120 1 January 2009 
			 Kampala 7,957 3,979 1 January 2009 
			 Kandahar 0 18,831 1 January 2009 
			 Karachi 26,647 13,324 1 January 2009 
			 Kathmandu 7,476 3,738 1 January 2009 
			 Khartoum 18,357 9,178 1 January 2009 
			 Kiev 2,813 1,406 1 January 2009 
			 Kigali 5,700 2,850 1 January 2009 
			 Kingston 4,219 2,110 1 January 2009 
			 Kinshasa 10,955 5,477 1 January 2009 
			 Ko1kata 7,957 3,979 1 January 2009 
			 Kuala Lumpur 2,517 1,258 1 January 2009 
			 Kuwait 2,517 1,258 1 January 2009 
			 La Paz 3,109 1,554 1 January 2009 
			 Lagos 15,396 7,698 1 January 2009 
			 Lashkar Gar 0 20,962 1 January 2009 
			 Lilongwe 5,700 2,850 1 January 2009 
			 Lima 4,219 2,110 1 January 2009 
			 Luanda 9,919 4,959 1 January 2009 
			 Lusaka 6,144 3,072 1 January 2009 
			 Manila 9,919 4,959 1 January 2009 
			 Maputo 8,438 4,219 1 January 2009 
			 Mexico City 3,479 1,739 1 January 2009 
			 Minsk 5,329 2,665 1 January 2009 
			 Monrovia 12,583 6,292 1 January 2009 
			 Monterrey 2,036 1,018 1 January 2009 
			 Montserrat 2,036 1,018 1 January 2009 
			 Moscow 5,700 2,850 1 January 2009 
			 Mumbai 7,032 3,516 1 January 2009 
			 Muscat 1,369 685 1 January 2009 
			 Nairobi 8,919 4,460 1 January 2009 
			 N'Djamena 8,919 4,460 1 January 2009 
			 New Delhi 7,957 3,979 1 January 2009 
			 Nouakchott 7,032 3,516 1 January 2009 
			 Nuku'alofa 4,589 2,295 1 January 2009 
			 Panama 1,221 611 1 January 2009 
			 Phnom Penh 7,957 3,979 1 January 2009 
			 Pitcairn 1,851 925 1 January 2009 
			 Podgorica 1,517 759 1 January 2009 
			 Port Louis 1,517 759 1 January 2009 
			 Port Moresby 8,919 4,460 1 January 2009 
			 Port of Spain 2,517 1,258 1 January 2009 
			 Pretoria 2,036 1,018 1 January 2009 
			 Pristina 3,849 1,925 1 January 2009 
			 Pyongyang 10,955 5,477 1 January 2009 
			 Quito 2,813 1,406 1 January 2009 
			 Rabat 2,517 1,258 1 January 2009 
			 Rangoon 12,028 6,014 1 January 2009 
			 Rio de Janeiro 2,221 1,110 1 January 2009 
			 Riyadh 7,476 3,738 1 January 2009 
			 San Jose 1,851 925 1 January 2009 
			 Sana'a 14,249 7,124 1 January 2009 
			 Santiago 777 389 1 January 2009 
			 Santo Domingo 3,479 1,739 1 January 2009 
			 Sao Paulo 2,517 1,258 1 January 2009 
			 Sarajevo 2,813 1,406 1 January 2009 
			 Seoul 1,221 611 1 January 2009 
			 Shanghai 2,517 1,258 1 January 2009 
			 Skopje 777 389 1 January 2009 
			 Sofia 1,851 925 1 January 2009 
			 St. Helena 740 370 1 January 2009 
			 St. Petersburg 4,959 2,480 1 January 2009 
			 Suva 5,329 2,665 1 January 2009 
			 Taipei 1,665 833 1 January 2009 
			 Tashkent 8,438 4,219 1 January 2009 
			 Tbilisi 7,032 3,516 1 January 2009 
			 Tehran 12,028 6,014 1 January 2009 
			 Tel Aviv 2,517 1,258 1 January 2009 
			 Tirana 4,219 2,110 1 January 2009 
			 Tripo1i 7,957 3,979 1 January 2009 
			 Tristan da Cunha 925 463 1 January 2009 
			 Tunis 1,221 611 1 January 2009 
			 Ulaanbaatar 5,329 2,665 1 January 2009 
			 Victoria 1,517 759 1 January 2009 
			 Windhoek 1,369 685 1 January 2009 
			 Yaounde 7,032 3,516 1 January 2009 
			 Yekaterinburg 6,588 3,294 1 January 2009 
			 Yerevan 3,479 1,739 1 January 2009

EU-Pakistan Summit

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what  (a) priorities and  (b) objectives have been set for the EU-Pakistan summit.

David Miliband: The Government strongly support the proposed EU-Pakistan summit and continue to encourage the Czech presidency to set an ambitious agenda that will deliver tangible benefits to Pakistan. We believe the summit should focus on security, counter-terrorism, trade and building democracy.

European Court of Human Rights

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the average cost to the public purse of an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in which the Government are a party  (a) in the latest period for which figures are available and  (b) in 1997.

Caroline Flint: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold a record of the estimated average cost to the public purse of the Government's defence of applications in the European Court of Human Rights.

European Court of Human Rights

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what occasions the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has been asked to review a case before the European Court of Human Rights involving the United Kingdom in the last 10 years; and what conclusion was reached in each case.

Caroline Flint: The Council of Europe (CoE) Committee of Ministers considers judgments of the European Court of Human Rights against the United Kingdom at its quarterly meetings for supervision of execution of judgments. Information about the cases considered at each meeting and the decisions taken is publicly available on the CoE Committee of Ministers' website at:
	http://www.coe.int/t/e/human_rights/execution/

European Union

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what dates he had  (a) discussions and  (b) meetings with the European Union Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region on the situation in the region in the last 12 months.

Gillian Merron: holding answer 12 May 2009
	There have been no meetings between my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and the EU Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Roeland van de Geer, in the last 12 months.
	My noble Friend, the Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, Lord Malloch-Brown, met Mr. van de Geer on 28 May 2008 and on 4 September 2008. They also both attended the regional summit held by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region in Nairobi on 7 November 2008.

Industrial Health and Safety

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department spent on compliance with requirements of health and safety at work legislation in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: Health and Safety considerations are an important factor in decisions about expenditure on the maintenance and improvement of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office estate and on the security and healthcare arrangements we put in place for our staff overseas.
	Identifying the information on which elements of this expenditure are spent on compliance with the relevant health and safety standards would incur disproportionate cost.

Middle East: Armed Conflict

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with representatives of  (a) the Israeli Government and  (b) the Palestinian authorities on the recent ceasefire in Gaza.

Bill Rammell: We are in close contact with both Israeli and Palestinian authorities about ways to improve the situation in Gaza.
	In April 2009 my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary spoke to both his Israeli counterpart and Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad.
	On 7 April 2009, I spoke to my Israeli counterpart about the importance of improving the situation in Gaza, among other issues.

Middle East: Armed Conflict

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with  (a) UN representatives,  (b) members of the Quartet and  (c) his EU counterparts on the recent ceasefire in Gaza.

Bill Rammell: We are in close touch with the UN, US, Russia and our EU counterparts about the situation in Gaza. Most recently, Gaza was discussed in the context of the wider Middle East Peace Process at the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 27 April 2009.

Peacekeeping Operations

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the oral answer from Lord Malloch-Brown to Lord Hannay of Chiswick of 20 April 2009,  Official Report, House of Lords, column 1248, what changes are to be made to the  (a) number of and  (b) level of funding for civilian secondees to conflict prevention and peacekeeping operations; what funding was allocated to civilian secondees in 2008-09; how many UK civilian secondees to each (i) country and (ii) operation there were in that year; and if he will make a statement.

David Miliband: In financial year (FY) 2009-10, the Government will provide 80 civilian and police secondees to discretionary, international peacekeeping operations compared with 127 in FY 2008-09. The following table sets out the number of civilian and police secondees by country and operation in FY 2008-09 and FY 2009-10.
	
		
			   Figures at end of 2008-09  Prioritised figures for 2009-10 
			   Police  Civilians  Police  Civilians 
			 EULEX Kosovo 45 18 17 15 
			 EUSR/ICO Kosovo 0 4 0 4 
			 EUPOL Afghanistan 9 1 9 1 
			 EUMM Georgia 4 7 4 7 
			 EUPM Bosnia 9 0 3 0 
			 EUJUST LEX Iraq 0 4 0 4 
			 ESDP Secretariat 2 1 1 1 
			 EUBAM Rafah/Gaza 0 1 0 1 
			 EUBAM Moldova 0 1 0 1 
			 EUCOPPS Palestine 0 2 0 2 
			 EUSEC DRC 0 1 0 1 
			 EUSR South Caucasus 0 1 0 1 
			 OSCE All Missions 0 15 0 6 
			 UNAMID Sudan 1 1 1 1 
			 Total 70 57 35 45 
		
	
	In FY 2008-09, civilian secondees to discretionary peacekeeping missions were funded from the Government's Peacekeeping Budget. We cannot provide an exact figure for civilian and police deployment costs in 2008-09. However, we estimate it to be some £16 million. In FY 2009-10, all discretionary peacekeeping activity will be funded from the £171 million available for discretionary conflict prevention, stabilisation and peacekeeping activity, as set out in my written statement to the House of 25 March 2009,  Official Report, column 17-18WS. It is possible that further resources, for example from the reserve of that discretionary fund, will be made available during the course of the year depending on priorities.

Sri Lanka: Armed Conflict

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether  (a) he and  (b) his officials have met representatives of the Governments of (i) India, (ii) Iran, (iii) China, (iv) Pakistan, (v) Syria and (vi) Russia to discuss the conflict in Sri Lanka in the last three months; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 6 May 2009
	My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has had regular discussions with a range of international partners on the situation in Sri Lanka, including Indian Foreign Minister Mukherjee. Our officials have had discussions with international partners, including members of the UN Security Council.
	The Foreign Secretary made an oral statement in the House on 30 April 2009,  Official Report , columns 1048-50W, following his visit to Sri Lanka on 29 April 2009 to meet with the Sri Lankan Government.

Sri Lanka: Armed Conflict

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to the Government of Sri Lanka on the avoidance of civilian deaths among the Tamil population in the north of Sri Lanka.

Bill Rammell: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary visited Sri Lanka on 29 April 2009 with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, for talks with the Sri Lankan Government on the ongoing conflict and the grave humanitarian impact. In his discussions with President Rajapakse and Foreign Minister Bogollogama, the Foreign Secretary made clear that the protection of civilians must be paramount.
	Following his visit, the Foreign Secretary gave an oral statement to the House on 30 April 2009,  Official Report, columns 1048-1050.

Sudan: Human Rights

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the International Criminal Court on the status of Sudanese President al-Bashir.

Gillian Merron: holding answer 12 May 2009
	Following the announcement of the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for President Bashir on counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity on 4 March 2009, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary issued a statement supporting the ICC as an independent judicial body, urging the Government of Sudan to co-operate with the court, and reiterating UK support to peace in Sudan. We have reiterated this message in contacts with international partners and in other public statements. As with all state parties to the Rome Statute, we have regular contact with the ICC on a range of court business.

Torture: British Nationality

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many UK nationals have claimed to his Department's staff in the last three years that they had been tortured overseas; and how many such cases have been investigated.

Gillian Merron: The UK is opposed to torture and is one of the most active countries in the world in the fight to eradicate it. Ensuring the welfare of British nationals detained abroad is one of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's highest consular priorities, and any allegation of abuse or torture is taken particularly seriously.
	Since 1 April 2005 we have collated statistics on the number of cases where we have, with the permission of the British national concerned, raised concerns with the detaining authorities over allegations of torture or abuse. These are as follows:
	
		
			   Number of allegations raised 
			 April-December 2005 39 
			 January-December 2006 69 
			 January-December 2007 75 
			 January2008-March 2009 60 
		
	
	Our case files also record all instances where UK nationals have approached departmental staff overseas claiming to have been mistreated overseas. Until this month we did not centrally collate these records, and to extract this information would incur a disproportionate cost. However, since May 2009 we have introduced a new system to record the total number of cases of mistreatment raised with us anywhere in the world, and we expect the first data to be available in October 2009.
	While we cannot conduct investigations in another sovereign country ourselves, the objective of our representations to foreign Governments is to end any ongoing mistreatment, and have the incident investigated and the perpetrators of any abuse brought to justice.

United Arab Emirates: Torture

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has received reports of alleged video evidence of acts of torture by uniformed police and others in the United Arab Emirates.

Bill Rammell: In addition to the two questions asked by the hon. Member, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has to date received one letter from a member of the public on this subject.

Yemen: Terrorism

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made on the Government's programme of counter-terrorism capacity-building in Yemen.

David Miliband: Counter terrorism (CT) capacity-building forms part of the Government's broader engagement with the Yemeni Government. Our CT capacity-building programme is progressing, and includes work to help counter radicalisation and improve the capability of law enforcement agencies to counter terrorism. We are co-ordinating with international partners and multilateral organisations to develop a self-sustaining Yemeni capability to tackle the terrorist threat.

Zimbabwe: Politics and Government

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate his Department has made of the number of white Zimbabwean farmers who have been deprived of their land in each of the last five years.

Gillian Merron: The majority of white Zimbabwean farmers were evicted from their land between 2000 and 2002, during which period farming organisations in Zimbabwe estimate that numbers fell from between 5,000-6,000 to approx 2,000. Since 2002 the rate of evictions has slowed. Many of the remaining farmers have been forced to keep a low profile, so maintaining accurate records of farm ownership has been challenging for farming organisations. However, they estimate that approximately 700 white Zimbabwean farmers have been evicted since 2004.

HEALTH

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 31 March 2009,  Official Report, column 1088W, on abortion, if he will place in the Library a copy of each document on the file held by his Department covering the Termination of Pregnancy Bill of Session 2005-06 and 2006-07; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: A copy of the file has been placed in the Library.

Breast Cancer: Ethnic Minorities

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated on rates of breast cancer among each ethnic minority group.

Dawn Primarolo: The Department has not directly commissioned research on the incidence of breast cancer among ethnic minority groups. A relevant study undertaken by the Thames Cancer Registry has however been recently published ("Breast cancer incidence, stage, treatment and survival in ethnic groups in South East England", British Journal of Cancer, 6 January 2009); and the National Cancer Research Institute's (NCRI) National Cancer Intelligence Network plans to publish an ethnicity and cancer report in June 2009. The report will include incidence and survival figures for ethnic groups in England in relation to selected cancer sites.
	The Department funds the regional cancer registries in England. The NCRI is a partnership organisation in which the Department plays a key role.

Cardiovascular System: Health Services

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms are in place to reduce health inequalities in  (a) prevalence and  (b) access to care for (i) cardiac and (ii) vascular disease.

Ann Keen: The Government have made tackling health inequalities a top priority, and the most comprehensive programme ever in this country is in place to address them. For coronary heart disease (CHD), the target to reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease (CHD, stroke and related diseases) by 40 per cent. in people under 75 by 2010 was met five years early and the mortality rate has now fallen by 44 per cent. when compared to the 1995-97 baseline. Death rates from CHD between the most deprived areas and the national average has narrowed and we are on track to deliver the 2010 target of at least a 40 per cent. reduction in the gap.
	From April 2009, the national health service is being asked to implement a systematic and integrated vascular risk assessment and management programme—the NHS Health Check programme. This will provide a mechanism to identify earlier people at risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease and support them to reduce their risk through the provision of lifestyle advice and interventions, and smoking cessation, and preventative medication such as statins. The programme has significant potential to narrow inequalities and many primary care trusts (PCTs) are using it as a major tool in tackling health inequalities.
	Other mechanisms available include the work of the National Health Inequalities Support Team in spearhead areas (the areas with the worst health and deprivation indicators), the Health Inequalities Intervention Tool, jointly developed with the Association of Public Health Observatories that support PCTs and local authorities in local priority setting (including prioritising vascular conditions), planning and commissioning of services and the work of the Improvement Foundation Programme in improving early presentation of cardiovascular disease in the spearhead areas. This is in addition to the work that PCTs are doing to address some of the risk factors for vascular disease such as making available smoking cessation, weight management and physical activity programmes in a way that is accessible to the groups within the population who most need them.

Dementia

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS has spent on research into the  (a) causes and  (b) treatment of dementia in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) on 24 February 2009,  Official Report, column 640W.

Diabetes: Costs

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of treatment of diabetes and diabetes-related conditions in the last 12 months.

Ann Keen: Estimates of national health service expenditure on diabetes are available from the programme budgeting returns.
	Data for 2007-08 are not yet available. However, the following table shows the estimated gross level expenditure for diabetes from 2004-05 to 2006-07 in England. These figures include primary care trust, Department of Health (DH), strategic health authority and special health authority expenditure. It should be noted that these figures do not include prevention expenditure or general medical services/primary medical services expenditure.
	
		
			   Diabetes expenditure  (£000)  DH  g ross expenditure  (£000)  Diabetes as a proportion of gross expenditure (percentage) 
			 2004-05 687,402 71,922,179 1.0 
			 2005-06 866,000 80,185,241 1.1 
			 2006-07 1,043,021 84,193,209 1.2

Dietary Supplements: EU Law

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the  (a) Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and  (b) Food Standards Agency have reviewed the effects on trade in food supplements and herbal remedies of the coming into force of the Mutual Recognition Regulation (EC) 764/2008; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: Decisions on whether products should be classified as herbal medicinal products, and on the authorisation of herbal medicinal products, are the subject of harmonisation measures at Community level and so are not subject to the requirements of Mutual Recognition Regulation (EC) No 764/2008. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency does not therefore expect the regulation to have a significant impact on the trade in herbal remedies.
	We are advised by the Food Standards Agency that measures taken by the authorities of member states pursuant to provisions of food law of general application are explicitly exempted from the requirements of the regulation. These exemptions relate to measures taken under Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 (General Food Law) in relation to risks to health arising from food, and measures taken under Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 (official feed and food controls) in ensuring that food business operators remedy non-compliance with food law. The European Commission is producing guidance on the application of the Mutual Recognition Regulation to different foodstuffs, including food supplements.

Dietary Supplements: EU Law

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  when he last met representatives of the  (a) Proprietary Association of Great Britain and  (b) Health Food Manufacturers Association to discuss the EU Food Supplements Directive;
	(2)  what recent progress has been made in discussions on the implementation of the EU Food Supplements Directive; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: I met with representatives of the Health Food Manufacturers Association on 22 January 2009 and with the Proprietary Association of Great Britain on 1 April 2009 to discuss matters relating to the Food Supplements Directive 2002/46/EC.
	A meeting of the ad hoc technical group of member states, established to undertake scientific modelling on the setting of maximum levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements, was held on 24 April 2009. At the meeting, member states presented the results of work they had carried out using the scientific models proposed by the European Commission and their respective national data on the intake of vitamins and minerals from the diet.

Dietary Supplements: EU Law

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  when Ministers in his Department next plan to raise with the European Health Commissioner  (a) the setting of maximum permitted levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements and  (b) the extension of existing European legislation to include other categories of substance;
	(2)  what information his Department holds on the outcome of the recent consultation by the European Commission on the possible extension of the scope of the EU Food Supplements Directive to include substances other than vitamins and minerals; what discussions  (a) Ministers and officials and  (b) the Food Standards Agency have had at EU level on such an extension; what his Department's policy is on such an extension; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what assessment has been made of the implications for manufacturers of supplements containing  (a) botanical ingredients,  (b) glucosamine,  (c) creatine and  (d) other ingredients of the implementation of proposals to extend the scope of the EU Food Supplements Directive.

Dawn Primarolo: There are no current plans for Health Ministers to raise the issues of the setting of maximum permitted levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements or the extension of the Food Supplements Directive 2002/46/EC to substances other than vitamins and minerals with the European Health Commissioner.
	Article 4(8) of the Food Supplements Directive placed an obligation on the European Commission to submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the necessity for specific rules in relation to the use of substances in food supplements other than vitamins and minerals. This report was published in December 2008 and the Commission's conclusion was that the current legislative framework is sufficient to regulate the use of substances other than vitamins and minerals in food supplements and that additional legislation in this area is not justified at this stage. No additional information is held by the Department or the Food Standards Agency in relation to the report.
	The Commission's report was placed on the agenda for an exchange of views at a meeting of the General Food Law Section of the Standing Committee on Food Chain and Animal Health held on 27 March 2009. At the meeting, the United Kingdom, represented by the Food Standards Agency, supported the position the Commission had expressed in its report and the Commission reiterated its position. Health Ministers and Departmental officials have had no discussions at European level on this issue.
	There are therefore no proposals currently under consideration to extend the scope of the Food Supplements Directive to substances other than vitamins and minerals. No assessment has been made of the implications of such an extension for manufacturers of supplements containing botanical ingredients, glucosamine, creatine or other ingredients.

Drugs: Babies

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many babies were born with a diagnosed addiction to drugs  (a) in each year since 1997 and  (b) in each primary care trust area in the last year for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many babies received treatment for  (a) drug addiction and  (b) alcohol problems arising from their mother's use of such substances during pregnancy (i) in each year since 1997 and (ii) in each primary care trust area in the last year for which figures are available.

Dawn Primarolo: Data on the number of babies treated for alcohol problems arising from their mother's use of alcohol are not collected centrally.
	The following tables show the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) where the primary or secondary diagnosis was either neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs of addiction or withdrawal from therapeutic use of drugs in newborns. The baby is not diagnosed as addicted, but as withdrawing from the mother's addiction.
	It is not possible to provide information on the type of drug the newborn child is withdrawing from.
	It is unclear whether there has been a real rise in the number of babies born suffering from the mother's addiction, as we suspect that a better awareness of drug misuse has lead to an increase of awareness and identification. Improved engagement with pregnant drug addicted women by the national health service and improvements in treatment for drug addiction may have allowed more women to conceive and/or carry a pregnancy to full term.
	
		
			  Count of cases (finished consultant birth episodes) with a primary or secondary diagnosis of neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs for the period 1997-98 to 2007-08 
			   Total finished consultant  birth episodes 
			 2007-08 1,230 
			 2006-07 1,211 
			 2005-06 1,210 
			 2004-05 1,192 
			 2003-04 1,156 
			 2002-03 1,054 
			 2001-02 933 
			 2000-01 926 
			 1999-2000 924 
			 1998-99 909 
			 1997-98 751 
		
	
	
		
			  Count of cases (finished consultant episodes) with a primary or secondary diagnosis of neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs by primary care trust (PCT) of residence for the period 2007-08 
			  Current PCT of residence description  Total finished consultant  birth episodes 
			 Unknown 575 
			 Bromley PCT * 
			 Barnet PCT * 
			 Hillingdon PCT * 
			 Enfield PCT * 
			 Barking and Dagenham PCT * 
			 City and Hackney Teaching PCT * 
			 Tower Hamlets PCT * 
			 Newham PCT * 
			 Haringey Teaching PCT * 
			 Blackburn with Darwen PCT 7 
			 Herefordshire PCT * 
			 North Tyneside PCT * 
			 Hartlepool PCT * 
			 North Tees Teaching PCT * 
			 North Lincolnshire PCT 12 
			 Nottingham City PCT * 
			 Salford PCT 9 
			 Stockport PCT * 
			 Portsmouth City Teaching PCT * 
			 Luton PCT 11 
			 Rotherham PCT 6 
			 Ashton, Leigh and Wigan PCT 14 
			 Blackpool PCT 8 
			 Bolton PCT * 
			 Ealing PCT * 
			 Warrington PCT * 
			 Oldham PCT 7 
			 Calderdale PCT * 
			 Barnsley PCT * 
			 Bury PCT * 
			 Brent Teaching PCT * 
			 Camden PCT * 
			 Islington PCT 7 
			 Sunderland Teaching PCT * 
			 Southampton City PCT * 
			 Medway PCT 8 
			 Westminster PCT * 
			 Southwark PCT * 
			 Lewisham PCT * 
			 Tameside and Glossop PCT * 
			 Brighton and Hove City PCT 9 
			 South Birmingham PCT * 
			 Shropshire County PCT * 
			 Walsall Teaching PCT * 
			 Sutton and Merton PCT 6 
			 North Somerset PCT * 
			 Telford and Wrekin PCT * 
			 Wolverhampton City PCT * 
			 Heart of Birmingham Teaching PCT 7 
			 Leeds PCT 31 
			 Kirklees PCT * 
			 Wakefield District PCT 11 
			 Sheffield PCT 15 
			 Derbyshire County PCT 9 
			 Nottinghamshire County Teaching PCT 10 
			 Lincolnshire Teaching PCT * 
			 Redbridge PCT * 
			 Waltham Forest PCT * 
			 County Durham PCT * 
			 Cumbria Teaching PCT * 
			 North Lancashire Teaching PCT 6 
			 Central Lancashire PCT 8 
			 East Lancashire Teaching PCT 12 
			 Sefton PCT * 
			 Wirral PCT * 
			 Liverpool PCT 11 
			 Halton and St. Helens PCT 7 
			 Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT 8 
			 Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale PCT 7 
			 Manchester PCT 17 
			 North Yorkshire and York PCT * 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire PCT * 
			 Hull Teaching PCT * 
			 Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT 21 
			 South East Essex PCT * 
			 Bedfordshire PCT 17 
			 East and North Hertfordshire PCT * 
			 Surrey PCT * 
			 West Sussex PCT * 
			 East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT * 
			 Hastings and Rother PCT * 
			 West Kent PCT * 
			 Leicestershire County and Rutland PCT 6 
			 Leicester City PCT 12 
			 Northamptonshire Teaching PCT 8 
			 Dudley PCT 6 
			 Sandwell PCT 9 
			 Birmingham East and North PCT 8 
			 South Staffordshire PCT * 
			 Worcestershire PCT * 
			 Warwickshire PCT * 
			 Peterborough PCT * 
			 Cambridgeshire PCT * 
			 Norfolk PCT * 
			 Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT * 
			 Suffolk PCT 6 
			 West Essex PCT * 
			 North East Essex PCT 9 
			 South West Essex PCT * 
			 Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT * 
			 Hampshire PCT 7 
			 Buckinghamshire PCT 9 
			 Oxfordshire PCT * 
			 Berkshire West PCT 11 
			 Berkshire East PCT 7 
			 Bristol PCT 33 
			 Wiltshire PCT * 
			 Dorset PCT * 
			 Bournemouth and Poole Teaching PCT 24 
			 Devon PCT * 
			 Isle of Wight NHS PCT * 
			 Powys LHB * 
			 Northumberland Care Trust * 
			 Torbay Care Trust 8 
			 North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus 11 
			 Total 1,230 
			  Notes:  ICD-10 diagnosis codes used: P96.1 Neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs of addiction. P96.2 Withdrawal symptoms form therapeutic use of drugs in newborn.  Low numbers Due to reasons of confidentiality, figures between one and five have been suppressed and replaced with '*' (an asterisk).  Ungrossed data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, The Information Centre for health and social care.

Epilepsy

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken in response to the finding of its Workforce Issues discussion paper of 2006 on the adequacy of numbers of medical care staff with training and expertise in epilepsy.

Ann Keen: Local national health service organisations are best placed to determine the workforce they need to deliver high quality service for patients. The Department is committed to supporting the NHS to do this by ensuring information such as supply and demand of medical practitioners with epilepsy training is well understood throughout the NHS, and that workforce planning and education and training decisions reflect this.
	The NHS Next Stage Review document 'A High Quality Workforce' outlined improvements for the workforce planning system, including a Centre for Workforce Intelligence and Professional Advisory Boards to provide expert research, analysis and co-ordinated clinical advice to the NHS.
	This will help to ensure that the NHS has the right workforce with the right skills to deliver high quality care for all patients.

Epilepsy

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department makes available for people diagnosed with epilepsy on the  (a) risk factors for and  (b) prevention of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.

Ann Keen: Detailed information on epilepsy, and the risk factors associated with sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, is made available on the NHS Choices website at:
	www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Epilepsy/Pages/Complications.aspx

Food: Labelling

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has made a recent estimate of the cost to the food industry of implementation of the EU Nutrition Labelling Directive.

Dawn Primarolo: In line with good regulation principles the Food Standards Agency produces impact assessments to gauge the costs/benefits associated with proposed nutrition labelling legislation. These impact assessments are developed with input from all stakeholders including the food industry and are updated regularly to take into account the latest developments for new European Union legislation in this area. The latest draft impact assessment for Commission Directive 2008/100/EC is available at:
	www.food.gov.uk/consultations/consulteng/2009/draftfoodlabelnutdecengregs
	The European Commission proposal for a new regulation on the provision of food information for consumers is available at:
	www.food.gov.uk/consultations/ukwideconsults/2008/infoprovision

Health Education: Influenza

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much he has allocated for expenditure on material to inform citizens about swine influenza.

Dawn Primarolo: The cost of advertising and publicity activity across the United Kingdom on swine influenza, including the swine influenza information phone line, is approximately £7.9 million to date.

Hospitals: Infectious Diseases

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what data his Department collects on products purchased by NHS trusts to tackle the spread of infectious diseases in order to monitor control of diseases spread in hospitals; and if he will make a statement.

Ann Keen: The Department does not collect information centrally on products purchased by national health service trusts. Decisions on what products to purchase for the purposes set out in the question are for local management to make.

Influenza

Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the number of cases of influenza in the UK in the most recent 12-month period for which figures are available.

Dawn Primarolo: Data on the actual numbers of people in the United Kingdom who have contracted influenza are not collected.
	Surveillance information on cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) is collected by the Royal College of General Practitioners. Information for the 2008-09 season was collected as rates of new cases of ILI per 100,000 general practitioner (GP) population, on a weekly basis in the flu season from 29 September 2008 to 12 April 2009. The peak weekly rate in 2008-09 was 68.5 new cases of ILI per 100,000 in the third week of December. These levels for the flu season 2008-09 are considered moderate levels of influenza activity. This information relates to England and Wales.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of abolishing prescription charges.

Dawn Primarolo: For the period April 2007 to March 2008, the revenue raised from prescription charges collected by pharmacists and appliance contractors and from prescription prepayment certificate fees was £432 million. In addition, dispensing doctors collect charges which are retained by primary care trusts and not collected centrally. Abolishing prescription charges in England would result in the loss of income available to the national health service.

Radiography: Manpower

David Clelland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to combat the shortage of qualified sonographers.

Ann Keen: The national health service is best placed to determine the workforce it needs to deliver high quality service for patients. The Department is committed to supporting the NHS to do this by ensuring information such as supply and demand of sonographers is well understood throughout the NHS, and that workforce planning and education and training decisions reflect this.
	For example, the Department and NHS Workforce Review Team work to produce a list of shortage occupations for the Migration Advisory Committee. Registered therapeutic radiographers and sonographers are included in the list, which comprises skilled occupations where there are shortages that can sensibly be filled by enabling employers to recruit migrants from outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
	The NHS Next Stage Review document "A High Quality Workforce" outlined improvements for the workforce planning system, including a Centre for Workforce Intelligence and Professional Advisory Boards to provide expert research, analysis and co-ordinated clinical advice to the NHS. A copy has been placed in the Library.
	This will help to ensure that the NHS has the right workforce with the right skills to deliver high quality care for all patients.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Young People

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children under 16 years old were diagnosed with  (a) gonorrhoea,  (b) chlamydia,  (c) syphilis,  (d) herpes and  (e) genital warts in each of the last five years.

Dawn Primarolo: Number of selected sexually transmitted infections (STI) diagnosed in genito-urinary medicine (GUM) clinics and in the National Chlamydia Screening programme (NCSP) in England, in those under the age of 16 for 2003 to 2008 are given in the following table.
	
		
			  STI  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			  GUM clinics (under 16 years)   
			 Chlamydia 1,372 1,367 1,315 1,307 1,530 n/a 
			 Gonorrhoea 322 261 230 199 224 n/a 
			 Syphilis 3 3 17 8 6 n/a 
			 Genital herpes 151 142 140 143 215 n/a 
			 Genital warts 574 584 515 617 762 n/a 
			
			  NCSP (15 years only)   
			 Chlamydia (1)52 283 467 628 1,176 2,020 
			  Notes: 1. Data for 2003 consist of information reported for the period 1 April 2003 to 31 December 2003. 2.  Notes on GUM data:  (a) The data available from the KC60 statutory returns are for diagnoses made in GUM clinics only. Diagnoses made in other clinical settings, such as general practice, are not recorded in the KC60 dataset.  (b) The data available from the KC60 statutory returns are the number of diagnoses made, not the number of patients diagnosed.  (c) The information provided has been adjusted for missing clinic data.  (d) Data are unavailable for 2008.  3.  Notes on NCSP data:  (a) The NCSP has been phased in since 1 April 2003 with all 152 primary care trusts (PCTs) reporting data to the programme since March 2008. Therefore note that numbers of diagnoses have risen substantially as an increasing proportion of the target population have been tested.  (b) NSCP data are presented by PCT of residence and exclude those resident outside of England.  (c) The data from the NCSP Core Dataset are for positive chlamydia screens conducted within the NCSP outside of GUM clinics only and include positive screens made by the Boots pathfinder project.  (d) The data available from the NCSP are the number of diagnoses made and not the number of patients diagnosed.  (e) Data include chlamydia diagnoses for males, females, and those with unknown/ unspecified sex.  (f) Data presented are based on tests with confirmed positive diagnoses only.  Source:  Health Protection Agency, KC60 returns. NCSP.

Swine Flu

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will fast-track approval by the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs of pathogen inactivation for blood products to ensure the UK blood supply is (A)H1N1-free; and if he will make a statement.

Desmond Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to protect the UK from the A(H1N1) virus; if he will fast-track approval by the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs of pathogen inactivation for blood products to ensure that the UK blood supply is (A)H1N1-free; and if he will made a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs is currently reviewing risk-reduction measures for platelets, which include pathogen inactivation. There are currently no pathogen inactivation systems available for red blood cells, the most commonly prescribed blood component. Current expert advice is that risk of transmission of influenza through blood components is low, although the position is being kept under review.

Swine Flu

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what quantities of pathogen inactivated (A)H1N1-free blood products are available in the UK; what plans he has to adopt pathogen inactivation for all civilian and military blood products if the World Health Organisation designates the (A)H1N1 outbreak a pandemic; and if he will make a statement.

Desmond Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what quantities of pathogen-inactivated (A)H1N1-free blood products are stockpiled in the UK; what plans his Department has to adopt pathogen inactivation for all civilian and military blood products if the World Health Organisation designates the (A)H1N1 outbreak a pandemic; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: Red cells are the most commonly prescribed blood component. There are no pathogen inactivation systems currently available for red cells. Risk-reduction measures for platelets, which include pathogen inactivation, are currently being reviewed by the Advisory Committee of the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs. It is anticipated that this review will be completed shortly. Plasma imported from the United States of America for use in the under-16s is pathogen inactivated. Current expert advice is that risk of transmission of influenza through blood components is low, although the position is being kept under review.

Torbay Hospital: Infectious Diseases

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding has been allocated to Torbay hospital to tackle  (a) MRSA and  (b) other similar infections in the latest period for which figures are available.

Ann Keen: The Department does not collect the information requested.
	Revenue allocations are made to primary care trusts (PCTs) to cover hospital and community health services, prescribing costs and primary medical services. It is for PCTs to decide what services they should commission (such as specific hospital services), in the light of local needs and circumstances, and to meet the health care needs of the local populations they serve.
	To support improvements in the national health service in reducing health care associated infections, there is comprehensive spending review funding of £270 million per year by 2010-11. This funding will be reflected in the national tariff uplift.
	This includes £130 million per year by 2010-11 for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus screening for all elective admissions from April 2009, and for all emergency admissions by 2010-11, as stated in "Our NHS Our Future", published on 4 October 2007. A copy of the publication has been placed in the Library.

Tuberculosis

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consideration he has given to the merits of establishing a national indicator for tuberculosis infection.

Dawn Primarolo: The NHS Next Stage Review considered all aspects of health care including tuberculosis and the need to set new targets. It introduced no new national targets, to ensure that the national health service continues to focus on the small number of targets in the NHS Operating Framework. Where the incidence of tuberculosis is a local issue, primary care trusts are empowered to deal with it.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Anabolic Steroids

James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had on the classification of anabolic steroids.

Alan Campbell: holding answer 11 May 2009
	Anabolic steroids are controlled as Class C drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The Government have accepted the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommendation to control a further 24 anabolic steroids and two non-steroidal agents (growth promoters) as Class C drugs and Schedule 4 Part 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 so as not to preclude legitimate use on prescription. A formal, public consultation on this proposal will be published shortly.

Crime Prevention: Expenditure

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to Table 5.2 of the Home Office Annual Report 2007-08, what the crime reduction resource budget has been spent on in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Alan Campbell: The expenditure figures in Table 5.2 of the Home Office Annual Report 2007-08 reflect those in the HM Treasury database as reported in the Main and Supplementary Estimates 2007-08 and approved by Parliament. To remain consistent with the figures approved by Parliament, information in the Annual Report was grouped under the Strategic Objectives published by the Home Office in February 2008.
	The expenditure identified in the table as dedicated to crime reduction resource covered a wide range of locally determined and national interventions aimed at tackling crime and antisocial behaviour. It formed an important contribution, along with investment in the Police Service, towards the delivery of an 18 per cent. reduction in crime between 2002-03 and 2007-08 as measured by the British Crime Survey. Over the same period, this expenditure also helped to secure a 24 per cent. reduction in crime within the 40 high crime areas. A detailed breakdown of expenditure by activity could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Demonstrations: Injuries

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were injured in the course of policing public protests in the last 12 months.

Vernon Coaker: The Home Office does not hold this information.

Google: Data Protection

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will assess the effects on privacy of Google's Latitude tracking system; and if she will make a statement.

Patrick McFadden: I have been asked to reply.
	The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) apply to location based services including Google Latitude. Regulation 14 requires that traffic data can be processed only for a value added service with the user or subscriber's consent. Possible breaches of privacy should initially be reported to the service provider and failing this to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The ICO can investigate as they have responsibility for enforcement of the regulations.

Immigration

Parmjit Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much and what proportion of its section 17 budget Gloucestershire county council has spent in relation to the case with Home Office reference G1082747; and if she will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 12 May 2009
	The Home Office does not hold the information requested.

Independent Police Complaints Commission: Public Appointments

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  when the Chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission was appointed, and by whom; what process was followed in the appointment; and what qualifications the Chairman has;
	(2)  when each serving commissioner of the Independent Police Complaints Commission was appointed, and by whom; what process was followed in each appointment; and what qualifications each has.

Vernon Coaker: The chair was originally appointed on 1 February 2003 and was reappointed for a term of five years on 1 February 2008. This is a Crown appointment. He was appointed following a selection process in accordance with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) code of practice. The chair of the IPCC must never have served as a police officer nor have worked for any of the organisations over which the IPCC has jurisdiction. Further information on the chairman's background can be found on the IPCC website at:
	www.ipcc.gov.uk
	On first appointment, all commissioners underwent an external selection process, including assessment and interview, in accordance with the OCPA code of practice. Those commissioners re-appointed last year were appointed in line with the OCPA code of practice.
	Commissioners come from a wide range of backgrounds and by law they must never have served as a police officer nor have worked for any of the organisations over which the IPCC has jurisdiction. Further information on the individual backgrounds of current commissioners can be found on the IPCC website at:
	www.ipcc.gov.uk
	Please see table:
	
		
			  Commissioner  First appointed  Re-appointed 
			 Deborah Glass (deputy chair) 1 April 2004 1 September 2008 
			 Len Jackson (deputy chair) 1 October 2003 1 October 2008 
			 Tom Davies 1 October 2003 1 October 2008 
			 Rebecca Marsh 15 September 2003 15 September 2008 
			 Amerdeep Somal 1 September 2003 1 September 2008 
			 Nicholas Long 1 September 2003 1 September 2008 
			 Mike Franklin 1 September 2003 1 September 2008 
			 Naseem Malik 1 October 2003 1 October 2008 
			 Gary Garland 1 October 2003 1 October 2008 
			 Rachel Cerfontyne 1 May 2009 — 
		
	
	Two non-executive commissioners are due to be appointed shortly, following open competition in accordance with the OCPA code of practice.

Internet: Monitoring

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate she has made of the cost of implementing the Mastering the Internet Project; and if she will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: I have been asked to reply.
	Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) continues to invest to maintain its capabilities in the face of growth in internet-based communications. The use of internet technologies and skills are one of the greatest challenges GCHQ has to master in order to deliver intelligence in accordance with its statutory purposes set out in the Intelligence Services Act 1994 (section 3). In the interests of national security detailed figures on Security and Intelligence Agency expenditure are not made public, but are subject to parliamentary scrutiny through the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC). The ISC's annual report for 2007-08 was published in March 2009.

Olympic Games 2012: Security

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what budget has been allocated for security technology for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games; and whether this allocation is drawn from the Olympic security budget;
	(2)  which companies will provide security technology for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games;
	(3)  whether any technological security systems are being created for the purpose of security for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Vernon Coaker: The Home Office is committed to the delivery of a safe and secure 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Work is continuing to finalise the plans for the provision for policing and wider security within the overall funding envelope of £600 million. This funding is separate from the ODA budget for security and the provision that LOCOG has set aside for in-venue security.
	Our strategy for 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is to ensure that security technology is proven, reliable and effective. This means that we do not currently envisage developing new technology specifically for the Games. Any decisions regarding the use of technology will need to take account of the operational needs of the police and other security agencies; affordability within the total funding envelope; and the need to secure value for money. These factors will inform decision-making regarding the appointment of security technology companies.

Police Stations: Access

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will commission an opinion poll in each major conurbation on the attitudes to the provision of public access to police stations.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 14 May 2009
	The management of the police estate, the allocation of resources and local surveys and or public consultations are matters for each police authority and chief officer, who are responsible for assessing local needs to determine the demand for access to police stations.

Police: Bureaucracy

Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information her Department holds on the proportion of the working time of  (a) all police forces in England and  (b) Avon and Somerset Constabulary which was spent on (i) different types of non-frontline duties, (ii) frontline duties spent on incident-related paperwork and (iii) frontline duties not spent on incident-related paperwork in each year since 1997.

Vernon Coaker: The figures for England and Wales are given in the table. Figures for individual forces should be requested from the force in question.
	
		
			  Table 1: Front-line policing, incident-related paperwork, and other activities, by year, for England and Wales( 1) 
			  Percentage 
			   Front-line policing (FLP)  All other activities  Incident-related paperwork  FLP excluding incident-related paperwork 
			 2003-04 63.6 36.4 10.3 53.3 
			 2004-05 62.3 37.7 9.9 52.4 
			 2005-06 63.6 36.4 10.8 52.8 
			 2006-07 64.2 35.8 11.4 52.8 
			 2007-08 64.9 35.1 12.4 52.5 
			 (1) Data for Staffordshire are not available for 2007-08 and these figures therefore exclude Staffordshire.

Police: Complaints

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with the Independent Police Complaints Commission on the disclosure of information between a police force and a complainant since January 2008; and if she will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: The Home Secretary has not had any such discussions with the IPCC.
	The Police Reform Act 2002 sets out the responsibilities of the IPCC and Chief Officers in keeping complainants informed and in the disclosure of information.
	The Home Office has no role in the disclosure of information between a police force and a complainant.

Police: Complaints

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many serving police officers at each rank in each police force have received words of advice by a senior officer following an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission in each year since 2004;
	(2)  what definition of words of advice issued in a disciplinary context her Department uses; what representations on the definition she has received since June 2007; and if she will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: The Home Office does not hold a central record of outcomes of disciplinary action. This is a matter for the Chief Officer of each force.
	The phrase "words of advice" is not defined in the current disciplinary regulations (Police (Conduct) Regulations 2008), nor was it used in the preceding regulations: the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2004.
	Under the previous disciplinary arrangements, the term 'words of advice' was used in the Home Office Guidance on 'Unsatisfactory Performance, Complaints and Misconduct Procedures' to refer to a managerial method for dealing with allegations of misconduct.
	Under the current regulations (the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2008) one possible outcome from a formal disciplinary meeting is management advice. Management advice is defined in the regulations to mean "management action imposed following misconduct proceedings or an appeal meeting".

Police: Complaints

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what research her Department  (a) has undertaken,  (b) plans to undertake and  (c) has evaluated on the number of complaints that have been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in each police force in England since the IPCC was established;
	(2)  what research her Department  (a) has undertaken, ( b) plans to undertake and  (c) has evaluated on the complaints made to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) that have been upheld since the establishment of the IPCC; and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  what research her Department  (a) has undertaken,  (b) plans to undertake and  (c) has evaluated on the number of complaints that have been made against police officers in (i) Southend and (ii) Essex in each year since 1997; and what action was taken against each officer concerned when complaints were upheld.

Vernon Coaker: The Home Office has not carried out any research into the number of complaints nationally, by force area, or more locally made against police officers, and has no plans to do so. Responsibility for the guardianship of the police complaints system is the statutory responsibility of the IPCC.
	As part of that role, the IPCC analyses and publishes statistics detailing the number and type of complaints made by members of the public and also their outcomes. These reports can be accessed via the IPCC website on www.ipcc.gov.uk. In addition, the IPCC regularly collates and disseminates best practice through its "Learning the Lessons" bulletins, which are also published on its website.
	In its 15th report—Independent Police Complaints Commission—published on 31 March 2009, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recommended that the Home Office should clarify who is responsible for monitoring the implementation of IPCC recommendations. Discussions are already underway between the IPCC, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) and police authorities on introducing an appropriate system.

Police: Essex

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what the police grant funding for Essex Police Authority was in 2008-09; how much is proposed for 2009-10; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  how much funding was allocated per head of population to Essex Police Authority in 2008-09; how much is planned for 2009-10; and if she will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: The information requested is set out in the table.
	The Government do not distribute grant to police authorities purely on the basis of population. The police funding formula uses a range of data relating to demographic and social characteristics to reflect the relative needs of each authority. Grant allocations also take into account the relative tax base of each authority. Grant allocations are stabilised by damping to limit year-on-year variations.
	
		
			  Essex police authority total grant funding 2008-09 and 2009-10 
			   Total grant funding( 1,2)  (£ million)  Resident population (million) 
			 2008-09 197.1 1.69 
			 2009-10 202.2 1.70 
			 (1) Total grant funding comprises: General Grant (Home Office Police Grant and Communities and Local Government Revenue Support Grant and National Non-Domestic Rates) and Specific Grants include—Crime Fighting Fund, Neighbourhood Policing Fund/Community Support Officers, Basic Command Unit Fund and Special Formula Grant (Rural Policing Fund, Special Priority Payments, Forensic (DNA) Grant, London/SE Allowance and Integrated Police Learning and Development Programme) and Capital Provision. (2) Total Grant funding excludes the following for comparison purposes: Dedicated Security Grant, Pensions Deficit Grant and some minor grant flows.  Sources: 1. Grants: Home Office 2. Population: Office of National Statistics, mid year population estimates and projections as used in the police funding formula

Police: Telephone Services

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make it her policy to limit the use by police forces of 0845 non-emergency telephone numbers.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 8 May 2009
	It is a matter for individual police forces what number they use for non-emergency telephone contact and the Home Office has no plans to limit the use of 0845 numbers operated by police forces.

Terrorism

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate she has made of the cost of the revised Contest strategy; and if she will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 14 May 2009
	"The United Kingdom's Strategy for Countering International Terrorism" set out details of Government spending on counter terrorism and intelligence. It is forecast to rise from £2.5 billion in 2008-09 to £3.5 billion in 2010-11. This budget is wider than just expenditure on the Government's counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST.
	Breaking down this budget by specific counter-terrorism and intelligence activities, beyond what is published already, would reveal our capabilities and details of the Security and Intelligence Agencies spending. It has been the policy of successive Governments not to reveal these details.

Transport: Personal records

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  when she expects to announce proposals on the collection of advance passenger data on domestic air and sea journeys;
	(2)  when she plans to announce further details of her Department's proposal to give the police powers to collect advance passenger data on domestic air and sea journeys.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 14 May 2009
	A formal public consultation will take place prior to the secondary legislation necessary to implement the powers. It is intended that this will focus on crossings between Great Britain and Northern Ireland only. A decision to launch this consultation has not yet been made.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Members: Allowances

Julian Lewis: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what the main categories are of personal data selected for redaction from hon. Members' claim forms and receipts prior to publication.

Nick Harvey: The main categories of data selected for redaction were listed in the notes sent to all Members on 1 April. They are:
	Any residential address of a Member of either House of Parliament
	Travel arrangements of a Member where the arrangements are regular in nature
	The identity of any person who delivers or has delivered goods, or provides or has provided services, to a Member at any residence of the Member (this does not apply to Members' offices or to head office addresses of large suppliers)
	Expenditure by a Member on security arrangements
	All names of hotels/guest houses used
	Correspondence or advice letters to or from Department of Resources/DFA
	All manuscript additions to forms, receipts etc where these have been made by HoC staff
	Dates and times on till receipts where the name of the supplier is included
	Bank and credit card statements (but mortgage or rental agreements or statements will be published to the following extent: (a) names of mortgagee/landlord/chargee (b) amount of interest and rent and (c) information contained on statements of account such as value of mortgage)
	Itemised parts of telephone bills listing calls to individual numbers
	Personal items on till receipts and invoices for which no claim has been made
	Misfiled pages relating to another Member
	Names and addresses and other details of members of staff on 'C3' forms (claims for staff expenses)
	Other information that is not central to the purpose of the claim or which could aid identity fraud including:
	personal telephone numbers and other contact details
	barcodes
	cost centres and departmental identification numbers
	personal data of third parties (excluding the name of mortgagees, chargees or landlords)
	bank/Giro details
	photocopies of cheques
	account, invoice, delivery, order, NI or reference numbers
	signatures

INNOVATION, UNIVERSITIES AND SKILLS

Students: Loans

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what recent estimate he has made of the number of graduates with outstanding tuition fee loans who are resident overseas; and what recent estimate he has made of the number of such graduates who are repaying those loans.

David Lammy: Student loans for tuition fees have been available since 2006/07. The following table includes English domiciled students and European students who studied at English higher education institutions. It shows the number of borrowers with outstanding tuition fee loans who were known to be resident overseas as at 31 March 2008.
	
		
			  Repayment status at 31 March 2008  Number of borrowers 
			 Under earnings threshold 1,070 
			 Repaying as scheduled 170 
			 Full repayment in progress 10 
			 PGCE Moratorium On Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) Part of Debt — 
			 Fully repaid after entering repayment — 
			 Total 1,250 
			 '—' denotes negligible.  Note: Repayment Status "PGCE Moratorium On ICR Part Of Debt" describes those Income Contingent (IC) borrowers who also have a mortgage style loan and have opted to repay this loan account first before commencing repaying their IC loan balance. 
		
	
	Following usual statistical practice, figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. It is not currently possible to disclose information for the period after 31st March 2008. This is because, following National Statistics protocol, the statistics are under embargo until the publication of the Student Loans Statistical First Release due in summer 2009.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Afghanistan: International Assistance

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has contributed to the United Nations Development Programme in Afghanistan.

Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) spent £16 million of its bilateral programme through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan last year (2008-09).

Africa: Overseas Aid

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what progress his Department is making towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals in Africa;
	(2)  what progress the Government is making towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal on  (a) reducing child mortality,  (b) improving national health,  (c) poverty reduction and hunger and  (d) achieving universal primary education.

Michael Foster: The UN conducts the official assessment of progress towards the millennium development goals (MDGs). Their latest report relating to 2008
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Documents/publications/mdg-factsheets/mdg-report-2008.pdf
	found that the global collective effort is yielding results and that progress is being made globally towards achieving many of the MDGs even in some of the more challenging regions. A number of targets are expected to be reached by their target dates in 2015.
	The Department for International Development (DFID) also conducts an annual assessment of progress towards key MDG targets at a country level based on international data. The latest assessment was published in its 2008 autumn performance report (copies of which are also in the parliamentary Library):
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Documents/publications/aut-perf-report-08.pdf

Departmental Public Consultation

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the cost was of producing the short film shown at his Department's White Paper consultation event in London on 5 May 2009; on how many future occasions the film will be shown in public; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: The short film "Our Interdependent World" is one of three films originally commissioned for and shown at the DFID conference, "Eliminating World Poverty: Building our Common Future" on 9 and 10 March 2009. The cost of the three films was £38,545. These films are being shown at a series of 12 regional consultation events on DFID's forthcoming White Paper hosted by DFID Ministers, including the London event on 5 May. They are also being shown at other consultation events and meetings on the White Paper, and are available to view on DFID's website. So far, over 1,700 people have seen "Our Interdependent World".

Departmental Public Consultation

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the cost was to his Department of  (a) venue hire,  (b) refreshments and  (c) other expenditure in relation to the White Paper public consultation event held in London on 5 May 2009; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: The venue cost for the London consultation event was £4,350. Refreshments, including Fairtrade tea and coffee, amounted to £4,597.50. The total cost, including the above and also technical and production management, facilitation and delegate management amounted to £23,142 excluding VAT. The Central Office of Information events team researched over 30 central London venues which were potentially suitable, and the chosen venue was the cheapest available.

Departmental Public Consultation

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the total cost to his Department of the public consultation process for his Department's forthcoming White Paper; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: The estimated cost to the Department for International Development (DFID) of the public consultation process for the forthcoming White Paper on International Development is £331,463. This has covered: 12 UK regional consultation events hosted by Ministers; six regional consultations hosted by DFID offices in Kenya and Somalia, Jamaica, India, Southern Africa, China and Bangladesh; and over 50 other consultation meetings in the UK with specific groups of stakeholders. It also includes costs related to the online public consultation on the DFID website. The consultation has so far reached a wide range of individuals and organisations in the UK and around the world.

Departmental Visits Abroad

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what mechanisms have been in place for the payment of expenses to Ministers and officials in his Department at regional meetings of the Inter-American Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank in the last 10 years;
	(2)  if he will place in the Library a copy of the guidance issued by his Department to Ministers and officials on the acceptance of expenses payments at the meetings of multilateral development banks.

Douglas Alexander: Travel to multilateral development banks, including the Inter-American Development Bank and Asian Development Bank, is considered to be the same as any international travel undertaken by Ministers and officials of the Department for International Development's (DFID) business. DFID arranges and meets the costs of this travel and other expenses, which are accounted for against receipts.
	It is not DFID policy for Ministers or officials to claim expenses from the multilateral development banks. Accommodation is, however, sometimes provided by the host bank for their annual meetings.

Developing Countries: Drugs

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what measures his Department is taking to ensure efficient and timely procurement of antiretroviral drugs through the Global Fund and other mechanisms.

Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) is aware that some countries supported by the Global Fund are at risk from health facility stores temporarily running out of essential antiretroviral drugs (stock-outs). DFID officials have spoken to the fund's secretariat about this, including recently at the Global Fund's Executive Board (5-6 May 2009). Formally, the UK supported a resolution made at the board meeting which obliges the fund's secretariat to address this issue urgently, to report on whether its existing procedures are adequate, and to propose solutions which would minimise the risks of disruptions to treatment both in the short term and on an ongoing basis. In developing countries such as Zimbabwe, DFID is also assisting, where possible, in the provision of drugs while problems in Global Fund supported programmes are being addressed.

Developing Countries: Economic Situation

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to assist developing countries to mitigate the effects on them of the economic downturn.

Michael Foster: The UK Government have taken various steps through different channels to mitigate the adverse effects of the economic crisis on developing countries. These include:
	Taking the appropriate steps to restore growth at home which will reinvigorate trade and financial flows to developing countries;
	Acting through multilateral agencies such as the World Bank and IMF to provide timely and effective assistance; and
	Providing support directly through our bilateral programmes.
	Through its leadership, the UK was instrumental in the announcements made at the London Summit to increase the resources of the IMF including the extension of special drawing rights (SDRs) which will provide vital assistance to developing countries facing short-term balance-of-payments problems. In total, an additional $50 billion was made available to low income countries (LICs).
	In March this year, DFID pledged £200 million towards the rapid social response fund to be administrated by the World Bank providing immediate help to meet the daily needs of the poorest people in the poorest countries in the economic downturn.
	DFID continues to work closely with our development partners and international financial institutions to ensure that developing countries are provided with timely and effective assistance—e.g. capital increases for the Asian Development Bank; reforms to the exogenous shock facility (ESF).
	DFID will be spending more on its bilateral programmes than ever before—2009-10 budget is £2.6 billion. We remain committed to achieving the target of 0.7 per cent. of gross national income (GNI) devoted to official development assistance (ODA) by 2013.
	Country programmes are designed to be flexible to respond to changing needs. Where appropriate, existing scheduled country programme spend has been adjusted accordingly.

Overseas Aid

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he made of the implications for his Department's overseas development projects of the outcome of the spring meetings of the World Bank; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: There are no direct implications for the Department of International Development's (DFID) bilateral programmes from the outcome of the World Bank spring meetings.
	The spring meetings helped to underline support for optimal use of the Bank's balance sheet, with lending of up to $100 billion over three years. The UK, along with other shareholders, welcomed Bank initiatives to protect the poorest, reinvigorate trade finance, maintain investment in infrastructure and support the financial sector. We expect these initiatives to complement DFID's own programmes and projects in the countries in which we work together.

Palestinians: Bomb Disposal

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department is giving to the disposal of unexploded munitions in Gaza.

Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) has provided funding of £641,000 directly to Mines Action Group and the UN Mines Action Service for the assessment and clearance of unexploded ordnance (UXO). UXO has been cleared from all UN Relief and Works Agency schools, as well as other public areas such as market places. This has allowed 220,00 children to resume their education, improved security for the civilian population and is allowing early recovery efforts, such as the removal of rubble and for families to return home, to proceed.
	Mine clearing organisations are still awaiting clearance from Israel for critical safety equipment and the explosives needed to destroy UXO already cleared to be allowed into Gaza. Agreement on a safe place to destroy the UXO inside Gaza is also required. The UK Government continue to urge Israel to allow the necessary equipment to enter Gaza and to agree to a disposal site.

Palestinians: Overseas Aid

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support the Government are providing to charities and other non-governmental organisations working with the population of Gaza.

Michael Foster: Information on funding provided by the UK Government to non-governmental organisations operating in Gaza is available in the table 'DFID UK Funding to 2009 Gaza'. This is on the DFID web-site:
	www.dfid.gov.uk

Palestinians: Trauma

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to support children in Gaza affected by trauma following shelling.

Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) is funding several organisations which are providing psychosocial support to traumatised children and their families. Mercy Corps is providing support to conflict affected children, youth and their families through family centres; Islamic Relief have helped 1200 children through group activities such as outings and self expression in safe environments; and the UN Relief and Works Agency have 164 counsellors in their schools to help traumatised children.

JUSTICE

Bribery: Convictions

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were convicted of offences relating to bribery in each of the last 10 calendar years.

Maria Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 28 April 2009,  Official Report , columns 1253-54W.

Housing: Sales

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many domestic property transactions in each local authority area in the South West were recorded by the Land Registry in the first quarter of 2009.

Michael Wills: The number of residential properties sold in each local authority area in the south west in the first quarter of 2009 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  District name  Total sales 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 282 
			 Bournemouth 420 
			 Caradon 102 
			 Carrick 137 
			 Cheltenham 249 
			 Christchurch 135 
			 City of Bristol 782 
			 City of Plymouth 440 
			 Cornwall 241 
			 Cotswold 172 
			 East Devon 262 
			 East Dorset 174 
			 Exeter 174 
			 Forest of Dean 125 
			 Gloucester 243 
			 Kennet 95 
			 Kerrier 117 
			 Mendip 186 
			 Mid Devon 181 
			 North Cornwall 106 
			 North Devon 144 
			 North Dorset 117 
			 North Somerset 353 
			 North Wiltshire 148 
			 Penwith 81 
			 Poole 307 
			 Purbeck 81 
			 Restormel 129 
			 Salisbury 144 
			 Sedgemoor 192 
			 South Gloucestershire 448 
			 South Hams 196 
			 South Somerset 268 
			 Stroud 193 
			 Swindon 434 
			 Taunton Deane 196 
			 Teignbridge 240 
			 Tewkesbury 146 
			 Torbay 271 
			 Torridge 131 
			 West Devon 107 
			 West Dorset 224 
			 West Somerset 73 
			 West Wiltshire 179 
			 Weymouth and Portland 158 
			 Wiltshire 213 
			 Total sales 9,796

Land Registry

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many titles in England and Wales were stored on HM Land Registry records on the latest date for which figures are available.

Michael Wills: On 8 May 2009 there were 22,185,077 registered titles from England and Wales stored on the Land Registry database.

Land Registry

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent estimate he has made of the number of land registration records which contain inaccuracies.

Michael Wills: Although there is no current estimate of records that contain inaccuracies, Land Registry runs automated systems that check against their records to identify potential inaccuracies that are then investigated on a daily basis. Land Registry has reported an accuracy rate of 98.91 per cent. in respect of its output for the year ending 31 March 2009 against a KPI of 98.5 per cent. This level of accuracy was achieved across more than four million applications directly affecting the entries on the Register of Title.

Land Registry

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the procedure is for the alteration of a record held by the Land Registry.

Michael Wills: Applications to alter the register of title are made using the forms and procedures prescribed by the land registration legislation. Applications must be accompanied by the appropriate documents and evidence needed to justify the alteration. Land Registry publishes a range of public and practice guides that provide guidance about the different types of application that can be made.
	Land Registry requires confirmation of identity for certain types of application as detailed in Land Registry "Practice Guide 67—Evidence of Identity".
	All applications are checked by Land Registry's staff in accordance with centrally prescribed practice guidance. If an application is not in order Land Registry may reject it on receipt or may send a written requisition for the defect to be put right. The application may be cancelled if the requisition is not complied with by a specified date.
	In some cases notice of an application is sent to interested parties and time is allowed for them to agree or object to the application. Any objection which is not groundless and cannot be resolved by agreement is referred for hearing by the adjudicator to HM Land Registry and the application cannot then be completed until the dispute has been resolved.
	If the application is in order, or when all requisitions and objections have been dealt with, the application is approved and the register is altered. The alteration takes effect from the time when Land Registry received the application.
	The Courts and the registrar also have power to alter the register without an application being made in the circumstances described in Schedule 4 to the Land Registration Act 2002, for example to correct a mistake or to bring the register up to date.

Land Registry: Data Protection

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what electronic security risk assessment was carried out prior to the establishment of the Land Register Online website.

Michael Wills: The Land Register Online facility was conceived as a facility to contribute substantially towards the Government's initiative to provide easier access for the citizen to government held data. As a "view only" service the integrity of the information held is not at risk through the service. The information made available through the service is available through other channels.
	A security assessment was undertaken in July 2002 by IBM Global Services. The agreed design was implemented by Land Registry with significant assistance from both HP/Compaq and IBM.
	The solution's implementation was validated from a security design stance through the engagement of Echelon who completed their testing 6 May 2003. The scope of the penetration test was to determine if Land Registry's website could be breached.
	Echelon concluded that the
	"website's ability to limit attack is restrictive enough to be considered secure."

Land Registry: Electronic Funds Transfer

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what risk assessment has been undertaken in respect of the Land Registry's proposed electronic funds transfer service; and what anti-fraud measures will be in place under this service;
	(2)  when the Land Registry plans to commence its electronic funds transfer service.

Michael Wills: Land Registry is not pursuing the development of the electronic funds transfer service.

Land Registry: Electronic Government

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has for the future provision of electronic services by HM Land Registry.

Michael Wills: The Land Registry is currently consolidating existing e-services onto a new technical platform. Within the current financial year the Land Registry expects to have moved 12,000 professional customers to this new platform, which will support the recent delivery of new electronic services, such as mortgages and redemptions. Welsh language versions of all these services will be made available shortly.
	A new Business Gateway service to allow direct connection between customer business software and Land Registry systems without the need to re-key data will be launched as a pilot in June 2009.
	Land Registry has recently launched a service developed jointly with the Legal Services Commission for the registration of statutory charges.
	The next stage is to introduce a new service allowing electronic transfers of registered land, including the capability to lodge Stamp Duty Land Tax Returns to HMRC. The Land Registry anticipates that this service will be piloted in 2011. Once live, it will be possible for professional customers to apply for the electronic registration of a redemption, transfer and mortgage, so supporting the residential house buying process.
	All services will be designed to comply with the appropriate accessibility standards.
	To protect the integrity of the Land Register, access to these registration services is made available only to customers who have successfully proved their business and personal identity in accordance with the relevant security checks.

Land Registry: Fraud

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what mechanisms to prevent fraud are used by HM Land Registry.

Michael Wills: Land Registry is committed to fighting registration fraud and has implemented a wide ranging anti-fraud strategy. Some aspects of the strategy must remain confidential but measures already implemented include:
	publication of Land Registry Public Guide 17—How to safeguard against property fraud and Public Guide 02—Keeping your address for service up to date, which advise property owners to record current contact addresses with Land Registry. Up to three addresses for service are allowed on the register, one of which may be an email address;
	enhanced ID requirements, as detailed in Land Registry Practice Guide 67—Evidence of identity;
	anti-fraud training for all Land Registry caseworkers; and
	the introduction of IT systems to assist in identifying suspect cases.
	The strategy is constantly kept under review and revised as appropriate. Land Registry also maintains contact with relevant national bodies, including the National Fraud Authority.

Land Registry: Fraud

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what training on detecting fraudulent activity is provided to Land Registry employees.

Michael Wills: All Land Registry staff receive face-to-face training sessions on the importance of combating fraud and their part in this, and there are regular updates to all staff as internal processes and policies are reviewed and changed. The last two of these were in October 2008 and January 2009. In each Land Registry office there are senior staff who have had further training on fraud issues and they are there to support casework staff on high risk applications.
	Land Registry's in-house electronic processing systems identify potential fraudulent applications automatically and all casework staff have been trained on the actions they must take in such circumstances. Land Registry's technical manuals contain clear instructions as to the processes staff must follow on every application received in order to prevent fraudulent registration.

Land Registry: Fraud

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what mechanisms are in place to inform  (a) an individual owning an interest in property and  (b) legal representatives of an individual owning an interest in property to a suspected incident of property fraud in respect of that interest.

Michael Wills: Land Registry informs owners of applications to alter their register where either the land registration legislation requires it or Land Registry thinks it prudent to do so. Notification is most often sent in cases where the application is made by someone who is not a professional conveyancer.
	The notice is sent to the owner's address for service as recorded in the register. All owners are required to provide at least one such address and are entitled to enter up to three. It is important that they keep their addresses up to date to ensure they receive such a notice.
	Land Registry will usually not know who the owner's legal representatives are at the time notice is to be sent and so does not generally send the notice to them. For example, it cannot be assumed that the solicitor who acted on a transfer to the owner some years ago is still their representative now. However, if an owner gives their legal representatives' address as one of the owner's addresses for service, Land Registry will send any notification to that address.

Prosecutions: Council Tax

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many successful prosecutions there have been in England and Wales for non-payment of council tax in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Maria Eagle: Persons proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under Section 56 of the Council Tax (Administration & Enforcement) Regulations 1992 cannot be separately identified on the Ministry of Justice Court proceedings database as they form part of a miscellaneous group which cannot be analysed.

PRIME MINISTER

Forfeiture Committee

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Prime Minister when the Forfeiture Committee next plans to meet.

Gordon Brown: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 12 February 2009,  Official Report, column 2136W.

Members: Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Prime Minister when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire dated 27 February 2009, on tax evasion.

Gordon Brown: A reply has been sent to the hon. Member.

SCOTLAND

Departmental Buildings

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department spent on building maintenance in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office does not separately identify the costs of building maintenance from the routine repair, maintenance and refurbishment of existing facilities. Over the period of the last five years, the Office has shared its accommodation with a number of other Government Departments. The following figures show the gross total for repairs and maintenance of Scotland Office buildings, but does not include the contribution by the departments towards their share of the costs.
	
		
			   Cost (£) 
			 2003-04 179,853 
			 2004-05 374,129 
			 2005-06 331,803 
			 2006-07 355,071 
			 2007-08 (1)1,011,254 
			 (1) Under the terms of the building leases the Office is required to maintain the buildings to an acceptable standard of decoration and repair, which in 2007-08 included roof and exterior repairs to Dover House in London.

Departmental Official Hospitality

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department has spent on  (a) conference services and  (b) banqueting services in each of the last five years.

Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office do not separately record the cost of conference and banqueting services. All expenditure is incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.

TRANSPORT

Aviation: EU Countries

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many  (a) scheduled and  (b) charter flights there were from British airports to (i) Belgium, (ii) Finland and (iii) Greece in each of the last five years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The following tables show the number of scheduled and charter flights departing from British airports to Belgium, Finland and Greece in each of the last five years.
	
		
			  Table 1: Scheduled flights from British airports to Belgium,  Finland and Greece 
			   Thousand 
			   2004  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			 Belgium 16.6 16.1 16.2 16.9 14.9 
			 Finland 3.5 3.3 3.8 3.6 3.7 
			 Greece 4.2 3.8 4.2 4.5 5.2 
			  Source:  DFT analysis of Civil Aviation Authority data 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Charter flights from British airports to Belgium,  Finland and Greece 
			   Thousand 
			   2004  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			 Belgium (1)— (1)— (1)— (1)— (1)— 
			 Finland 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 
			 Greece 11.9 11.3 11.1 10.3 9.2 
			 (1) Less than 100 flights  Source:  DFT analysis of Civil Aviation Authority data

Bus Services: Concessions

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had with representatives of West Lancashire district council on  (a) funding for,  (b) pool arrangements for and  (c) surplus from the national concessionary bus fares scheme.

Paul Clark: Department for Transport Ministers have not had any recent discussions with representatives of West Lancashire district council. However, Ministers have had discussions with representatives of other councils within the Lancashire region.
	Departmental officials have met with representatives of the Lancashire Concessionary Travel Scheme, of which West Lancashire is a member. This group comprises the districts and unitary authorities of Lancashire plus the county council. These discussions focused on the concerns that some local authorities in Lancashire have regarding the allocation of concessionary travel special grant funding.
	I am aware that authorities within the Lancashire County Scheme already choose to pool a proportion of their funding. This year West Lancashire will receive £252,714 of special grant funding to meet the cost of the new England-wide concession. This represents an increase of 23 per cent. on the authority's spend on concessionary travel in 2007-08.
	As funding for concessionary travel is not ring-fenced, local authorities are free to spend the money on any services, provided they meet their statutory obligations. This is consistent with wider policy on local government funding of giving authorities greater freedom and flexibility.

Bus Services: Concessions

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funding his Department has provided for West Lancashire district council in respect of the national concessionary bus fares scheme in each year since the scheme was introduced.

Paul Clark: Before 1 April 2008, funding for the statutory minimum bus concession was provided exclusively through the Formula Grant system, which is administered by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG). The Department for Transport therefore provided no separate funding to West Lancashire district council for concessionary bus travel from 2001, when the statutory minimum was first introduced, until 2008.
	The Department did however provide West Lancashire with £50,404 in 2007-08 for the cost of producing and issuing the new England-wide bus passes to all those eligible.
	In 2008-09 West Lancashire district council received additional special grant funding from the Department for Transport of £246,891 to meet the additional cost of the new, England-wide concession. This represents an increase of 22 per cent. on the authority's spend on concessionary travel in 2007-08. In 2009-10 West Lancashire district council will receive special grant funding of £252,714.

Road Traffic

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent research his Department has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated on the effects of traffic congestion on the environment.

Paul Clark: The Department for Transport has commissioned research into assessing the cost of transport's impact on the natural landscape. The results of phases 1 and 2 of the study are reported on the Department's website at:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/economics/rdg/landscape/
	In addition the Highways Agency is developing a methodology to account for the changes to the quantity of vehicle emissions that affect air quality that can result from major roads schemes.
	Also, the Department is collaborating with DEFRA to manage research that DEFRA has commissioned to investigate the health impacts of environmental noise. Although the remit of the study is not confined to transport, it is recognised that transport is a major source of noise exposure to those who live or work near roads.
	Although not recent, from 1998 to 2004 the Department ran a research programme—TRAffic Management and Air Quality research (TRAMAQ)—looking at the impact of traffic management schemes on air quality. Details of this can be found on the Department's website at:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/network/research/tmairqualityresearch/trafficmanagementandairquali3927
	There is also recently commissioned related research that is looking at the impacts, including environmental ones, of smarter choices, cycling initiatives, and sustainable travel measures generally.

TREASURY

Annuities

Jo Swinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of the merits of removing the requirement for pensioners to buy annuities at the age of 75 years;
	(2)  with reference to the answer by the Leader of the House. 15 October 2008,  Official Report, column 791, on pensions, what the outcome has been of discussions between his Department and the Department for Work and Pensions on the requirement on pensioners to annuitise pensions at the age of 75 years.

Ian Pearson: There is no requirement to annuitise at any age. Rather there is a requirement that an income be taken from pension savings by age 75.
	The Government have considered this requirement to secure an income from a pension fund at age 75 in light of recent conditions in financial markets but has no plans to change it. 95 per cent. of people take an income from their pension savings by the age of 70.
	The current rules already allow a considerable degree of flexibility. A pension income can currently commence at any time between the ages of 50 and 75, and can be taken from a pension fund without annuitising, through income drawdown. Even at 75, it is not compulsory to annuitise; alternatively secured pensions are available for those for whom they are suitable and who do not wish to buy an annuity.

Autism

Greg Hands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guests were invited to the autism reception held at 11 Downing Street on 5 May 2009.

Angela Eagle: Invitations were issued by "Autism Speaks"—who hosted the reception—and not by HM Treasury.

Bank of England Act 1998

David Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the operation of the Bank of England Act 1998; what recent representations he has received about this Act; and what  (a) statutory instruments,  (b) departmental circulars and  (c) other documents he (i) has issued since October 2008 and (ii) plans to issue in the next 12 months consequent on the provisions of the Act.

Ian Pearson: The Treasury reviews regularly the legislative framework for which it is responsible. It receives representations from a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such representations.
	The Banking Act 2009, which received Royal Assent on 12 February this year, includes provisions to amend the Bank of England Act 1998 and enables secondary legislation in relation to the role of the Bank. All such legislation is available from the Office of Public Sector Information:
	www.opsi.gov.uk
	Information published by the Treasury in relation to Part II of the Bank of England Act 1998 (Monetary Policy) can be found on its website, as can Treasury press releases relating to Bank of England appointments made under the Act:
	www.hm-treasury.gsi.gov.uk

Bank of England Act 1998

David Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many officials in his Department at each pay band have responsibility for the  (a) formulation and  (b) implementation of policy on the Bank of England Act 1998; what other posts in his Department each such official has held; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: The Treasury has a broad range of policy interests related to the Bank of England Act 1998, and flexes the related resources as required. Overall, at 1 April 2008, the Treasury Group had 1,451 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff. Further information regarding Treasury staffing can be found in its latest annual report available at
	www.hm-treasury.gsi.gov.uk.

Child Tax Credit: Underpayments

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the amount of child tax allowance which was underpaid to married men in 2008-09; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: The information requested is not available as HM Revenue and Customs do not hold information on marital status.

Child Tax Credit: Underpayments

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer up to what date reviews of an individual's child tax allowance could be requested; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: Information concerning tax credits customers' appeal rights can be found in the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) leaflet WTC/AP "How to appeal against a tax credits decision or award" which is available on the internet at:
	www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/wtc_ap.pdf
	HMRC is statutorily allowed to examine the correctness of a tax credits claim after it has been finalised. Those powers include time limits for opening an enquiry although there are certain circumstances in which it will still be possible to reconsider a claim for any year after those time limits have expired. Further information can be found in the HMRC Claimant Compliance Manual published on the internet at:
	www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ccmmanual/Index.htm

Debts

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the effect on the economy of the level of personal debt; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: HM Treasury continually monitors the levels of both household liabilities and assets, and the implications of these for the wider economy are examined as part of the pre-Budget report and Budget forecasting process.

Departmental Absenteeism

Greg Hands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff of his Department were recorded absent for non-medical reasons on  (a) 2 February 2009 and  (b) 3 February 2009; what estimate he has made of the (i) cost to his Department and (ii) number of working hours lost due to such absence; and what guidance his Department issued to staff in respect of absence on these days.

Angela Eagle: Treasury guidance ensures that staff attendance and absence are managed locally by line managers with their staff. Flexible working arrangements ensure that many staff have the capacity to work from home when transport or other disruptions occur.
	Details of the number or cost of staff taking leave or applying flexible working arrangements on any particular day could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Contracts

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which services his Department has outsourced in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Eagle: The Treasury has not outsourced any services within the past five years.

Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings

Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many officials in  (a) his Department and  (b) HM Revenue and Customs are suspended; how many are suspended on full pay; for how long each has been suspended; and what the reasons are for each such suspension.

Angela Eagle: Both the Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have well-established processes for dealing with staff disciplinary investigations, and both Departments work from the presumption that the conduct of an investigation, and any suspension from duty applied, does not imply that any wrongdoing or disciplinary conduct has taken place. Both have a policy to maintain staff on full pay while suspended unless there are compelling reasons to suspend without pay.
	As a smaller Department, it is not the Treasury's practice to comment on investigations, including whether or not a suspension has been applied, as to do so might compromise the outcome of current or future investigations.
	Currently 22 HMRC staff are suspended, eight of those have been suspended for up to three months, three for three to six months, seven for seven to 12 months, two for 17 months, one for 25 months and one for 26 months. These suspensions have been applied because staff are under police investigation for matters in their private lives, because they are under criminal investigation by HMRC's internal investigators, or because they are under investigation for potentially serious disciplinary offences.
	Both Departments keep their disciplinary policies under review.

Imports: Drugs

Harry Cohen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has taken in respect of the import of pharmaceutical products ordered over the internet which are deemed dangerous to public health; how many prosecutions have been bought in respect of illicit imports in the last five years; and what discussions HMRC has had with overseas administrations on the issue.

Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.
	In the United Kingdom, strict legal controls apply to the retail sale and supply of medicines and these controls apply equally to medicines sold via the internet.
	The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for enforcing medicines legislation and can take enforcement action against breaches of that legislation in the UK. During the last five years, 18 successful prosecutions have been brought involving medicines being traded illegally over the internet.
	Medicines that are brought into the UK by an individual for his or her own personal use, including those purchased via the internet, are not subject to the controls of medicines legislation.
	We are aware that considerable illegal activity takes place through websites hosted abroad and outside UK control. The MHRA works closely with European Union and other international regulatory authorities to ensure that, wherever possible, offending websites are amended to reflect the law. MHRA also participates in cross-Government and international groups set up to explore how best to combat internet issues, and exchange intelligence.

Members: Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to reply to the letter of 17 March 2009 from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire on leading bankers, PO reference: 1/69395/2009.

Ian Pearson: A reply has been sent to the hon. Member.

Members: Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Economic Secretary to the Treasury plans to reply to the letter of 17 March 2009 from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire on the reduction of income derived from pensioners savings, PO reference: 5/04517/2009.

Ian Pearson: I have replied to the hon. Member.

Members: Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire dated 19 February 2009, on national saving accounts, PO reference: 1/67675/2009.

Ian Pearson: I have replied to the hon. Member.

Revenue and Customs: Closures

Edward Timpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons HM Customs and Excise's offices in  (a) Bangor,  (b) Bedford and  (c) Doncaster were withdrawn from the Workforce Change programme.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 8 May 2009
	 The decisions to vacate HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offices in Bangor, Bedford and Doncaster were among those announced in December 2008 at the conclusion of HMRC's Workforce Change regional review programme to match HMRC's estate to future business needs. Those decisions have not changed.
	While HMRC has looked again at the timing of closures of a number of its offices in the light of budgetary constraints, the aim is still to close them in 2010-11. Full vacation of Ty Glyn, Bangor, and Weston House, Doncaster, originally expected by the end of 2009-10, has now been deferred until after 2009-10. The intention to vacate Portman House, Bedford, by spring 2011 remains unchanged.

Revenue and Customs: Crewe

Edward Timpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for how long HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will remain contracted to Mapeley in respect of the HMRC office at Crewe House, Crewe.

Ian Pearson: HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) office at Crewe House, Crewe was included in the Strategic Transfer of the Estate to the Private Sector (STEPS) outsourcing deal with Mapeley in April 2001. The STEPS contract is for a term of 20 years from 2001. However, there is flexibility within the contract for HMRC to fully or partially vacate properties prior to the contract expiry date in 2021. HMRC will remain contracted to Mapeley in respect of Crewe House until it vacates and the appropriate contractual vacation notice expires.

Revenue and Customs: Crewe

Edward Timpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 11 May 2009,  Official Report, column 541W, on HM Revenue and Customs in Crewe, how much he estimates will accrue in each category of the proposed savings of £230 million to arise from the vacation of two floors of the HM Revenue and Customs offices at Crewe House, Crewe.

Ian Pearson: HM Revenue and Customs is unable to disclose the specific estate savings for Crewe House, Crewe on grounds of commercial sensitivity.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the stamp duty land tax holiday is estimated to have cost the Exchequer at the latest date for which information is available.

Ian Pearson: The estimated cost of the stamp duty land tax holiday in 2008-09 and the cost for 2009-10 up to 3 September 2009, the original date for the end of the holiday, was published in the PBR 2008 report at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pbr08_annexb_262.pdf
	A revised estimate for the cost of the stamp duty land tax holiday in 2009-10, to 3 September 2009, was published in table A2 of the Budget 2009 report at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/Budget2009/bud09_chaptera307.pdf
	The cost of extending the holiday to 31 December 2009 was also published in table A1 of the Budget 2009 report at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/Budget2009/bud09_chaptera_307.pdf

Stamp Duty Land Tax

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue was raised in cash terms from stamp duty land tax on residential property in each year since 1996-97.

Ian Pearson: Estimates of the stamp duty land tax from residential property raised in cash terms since 1996-97 are given at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/stamp_duty/tablel5-2.xls

Taxation: Bingo

Clive Betts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what methodology was used to calculate the figure of £50 million estimated revenue lost to the Exchequer by the removal of value added tax on bingo participation fees in the 2009 Budget.

Angela Eagle: The estimated revenue impact of £50 million in the 2009 Budget Redbook relates to the cost of VAT exemption for both bingo and player-to-player gaming in casinos in 2009-10. Our estimate of the cost of removing VAT on bingo participation fees has been calculated using a methodology that is consistent with other costings of policy changes on tax. It uses information from the bingo industry, bingo duty receipts and takes account of behavioural effects.

Taxation: Gambling

Clive Betts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what discussions his Department has had with representatives of the bingo industry on levels of taxation in the industry in the last three months;
	(2)  what discussions there have been between representatives of his Department and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the proposed transfer of gaming machines to a gross profits taxation regime;
	(3)  what discussions he had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on gambling taxation prior to the 2009 Budget.

Angela Eagle: Treasury Ministers and officials met with a wide range of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the usual Budget process. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such discussions

Taxation: Gambling

Clive Betts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the changes to the tax rates for  (a) bingo,  (b) casinos,  (c) betting,  (d) gaming machines and  (e) online gaming following the 2009 Budget are.

Angela Eagle: Details of the tax changes relating to different gambling sectors were announced at Budget 2009. Costings implications are published in Table A1 in the Financial Statement and Budget Report. More detailed information on the tax changes can be found in HMRC Budget Notes 73 and 83, published on the HMRC website:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2009/bn73.htm
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2009/bn83.htm

Taxation: National Lottery

Don Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate his Department has made of the effect on  (a) prize levels,  (b) good causes' revenue and  (c) taxation revenue of a change to the taxation regime for the National Lottery from lottery duty to gross profits taxation.

Angela Eagle: The Government undertook a detailed assessment of the case for taxing the national lottery on a gross profits tax basis before the 2008 pre-Budget report.
	The Government concluded that there was considerable uncertainty over the impact of a switch to a gross profits tax, particularly given the start of the new lottery operating licence in February 2009. The stakes based system of lottery taxation has therefore been retained.

VAT: Tax Rates and Bands

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to change the date on which value added tax will revert to 17.5 per cent. to take account of trends in the turnover of retail outlets at the end of 2009.

Stephen Timms: Budget 2009 confirmed that the VAT rate will revert to 17.5 per cent. from 1 January 2010. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will continue to talk to businesses about practical issues associated with the change.
	To address the particular difficulties for businesses such as pubs and clubs that will remain open beyond midnight on 31 December, HMRC will allow a few hours' trading grace in which they may continue charging the 15 per cent. rate for a session that goes into the early hours of 1 January.

WALES

Departmental Billing

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department paid in interest to suppliers under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 in the last three years for which figures are available.

Paul Murphy: My Department has paid the following amounts to suppliers under the late payment of commercial debts:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2006-07 0 
			 2007-08 117 
			 2008-09 (1)822 
			 (1) Interim payment under negotiation with a view to being refunded.

Departmental Stationery

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proportion of office supplies purchased by his Department were recycled products in the latest period for which figures are available.

Paul Murphy: All paper used for photocopying and printing in my Department is sourced from recycled materials. Records are not held on all proportions of stationery that are recycled products and this information could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost. However, we are developing a sustainable development policy that will include recording this information.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Departmental Work Experience

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many work placements his Department offered to  (a) school pupils,  (b) university students and  (c) graduates in each of the last five years.

Jonathan R Shaw: The Department for Work and Pensions does not collate the information requested centrally and it could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

Incapacity Benefit

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he plans to take to assist long-term incapacity benefit claimants back into work.

Jonathan R Shaw: We set out in the White Paper "Raising expectations and increasing support: reforming welfare for the future" published in December 2008, a range of measures to help long-term incapacity benefit claimants into work.
	Pathways to Work was rolled out nationally on 28 April 2008 and is now available to everyone receiving incapacity benefits and employment and support allowance in Great Britain. Later this year we will be introducing mandatory work-focused interviews for existing incapacity benefits customers under the age of 25 in Jobcentre Plus Pathways to Work areas.
	We intend to migrate existing incapacity benefits customers to employment and support allowance and, in the light of Pathways to Work evaluation evidence, plan to introduce a new system of three work-focused interviews for customers aged under 50 once migrated. They will be able to take up further support on a voluntary basis. It is intended that customers aged 50 and over will receive one mandatory work-focused interview, again with the option of further voluntary support. We also plan to run pilots to test new ways of delivering employment support to existing customers aged 50 and over, to establish what works best for this group.
	In addition, five Invest to Save pilots are planned to test the innovative funding model proposed by David Freud, alongside Professor Gregg's vision of conditionality for existing long-term customers.

Service Personnel and Veterans Agency

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases his Department has referred to the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency in each year since 2007.

Rosie Winterton: The Pension, Disability and Carers Service routinely refers people to a range of complementary services and organisations where appropriate. Information is not collected centrally on the numbers that are referred to the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency.